Centre for Multilingual Research

The Centre for Multilingual Research at the University of Aberdeen (CMLR) promotes and disseminates interdisciplinary and transnational research carried out across a range of language disciplines including but not limited to Arabic, Chinese, Francophone Studies, Gaelic, German, Spanish and Latin American Studies and Translation and Interpreting Studies. It invites languages staff at all stages of their careers and postgraduate researchers from and beyond Aberdeen to share their research on any aspect of multilingual research by hosting regular research seminars, workshops and networking events. The Centre also contributes to the University's Interdisciplinary Challenge area of Social Inclusion and Cultural Diversity.

Directors:
Dr Jesse Barker
Dr Maria Sanchez-Ortiz

Upcoming Events:

• Joint Lunchtime Seminar (with the Centre for Early Modern Studies):
  • From French Moralists to the Scottish Enlightenment: Debates on the ‘Selfish Hypothesis’ – Prof. Béatrice Guion (Université de Strasbourg), Wednesday 29th October 2025.

• Translation Workshop Series (Term 2 – dates TBC):
  • Translating Across Boundaries: Challenges and Creative Pathways
  • Translation and Interpreting Today: Evolving Roles and Professional Perspectives.
    
    
• Postgraduate Research Conference (June 2026):
  • An interactive event providing a platform for postgraduate students to share, discuss, and celebrate research in multilingual and intercultural studies.

Past events:

• Meeting with Dr Rachel Shanks, Interdisciplinary Director for Cultural Diversity and Social Inclusion, 6th November 2024.
  
  
• Panel Discussion: Literary Translation, 12th March 2025
  • A roundtable that brought together experts in literary translation to explore the creative and critical dimensions of translating literature across languages and cultures. The discussion covered various aspects of literary translation, with a particular focus on the challenges and nuances of translating poetry.
    
    The session opened with a moderated discussion, providing insights into the complexities of literary translation, followed by a series of short readings in French, Gaelic, Italian, and Spanish, accompanied by English translations.
    
    The panel included:
    • Dr Maria Sanchez, Senior Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting Studies at the University of Aberdeen.
    • Mr Taylor Strickland, writer and artist based in Glasgow, whose poems, translations, and essays have appeared in various literary journals.
    • Ms Clara Défachel, alumna of the Laidlaw Scholars Programme at the University of St Andrews and PhD researcher in Comparative Literature at the same institution.
    • Dr Letizia Leonardi, Tutor and Teaching Assistant at the University of Aberdeen.
    • Ms Adriana Uribe, freelance linguist (EN–ES) specialising in equality and integration, Aberdeen, Scotland.
      
      
  • The event concluded with a visit to the Library’s Special Collections, where Professor Alison Lumsden (University of Aberdeen) delivered a talk on Walter Scott in Translation. Attendees also had the opportunity to explore the accompanying exhibition.
    
    

• Joint Session (CMLR & CISRUL): Area Studies and the REF, 16th April 2025
  • A session jointly organised by the Centre for Multilingual Research (CMLR) and the Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law (CISRUL), featuring Prof. Tony Chafer (University of Portsmouth), former REF panellist.
    
    
• Panel Discussion: The Politics of Space, Planning and Urban Experience, 19th May 2025
  • A roundtable that brought together experts on urban spaces and built environments across Europe. Drawing on intersecting fields including literary and visual studies, architecture, urban planning, history, sociology, and cultural studies, the discussion explored how post-war planning in major European cities shaped lived experience and generated new politics of space and resistance.
    
    Speakers included Prof. Edward Welch (University of Durham), Dr Laura Bowie (University of Greenwich), Dr Stephan Ehrig (University of Glasgow), and Dr Jesse Barker (University of Aberdeen). The session provided a stimulating forum for reflecting on the affective and political dimensions of urban life.

• Islamophobia Beyond Borders Workshop , 22nd-24th July 2024. Speakers including:
  • Zara Mohammed (Muslim Council of Britain)
  • Salman Sayyid (University of Leeds)
  • Mame-Fatou Niang (Carnegie Mellon University)
  • Fraser McQueen (University of Bristol).
• Professor Nicki Hitchcott, Dr Alice Urusaro Uwagaga Karekezi, Professor Lewis Gordon, Dr José Lingna Nafafé and Professor Jane Gordon. CMLR and CISRUL Symposium: Decolonial Approaches to Languages and Cultures, 25th October 2023, 2-5pm
• Professor Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac, Université d'Orléans. CMLR and CEMS Seminar: 'A Portraitist in Europe: Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun', 27th September 2023, 1-2.30pm
• Professor Eleonora Belfiore, Interdisciplinary Director of Social Inclusion and Cultural Diversity, University of Aberdeen: CMLR Grants session, 2nd November 2022, 1-2.30pm
• Dr Dawn Leslie and Professor Michelle MacLeod, LLMVC: 'A response to the AHRC's call on the Future of Language Research', Wednesday 28th September 2022, 1-2.30pm
• Dr Ina Linge, University of Exeter: Gender and Sexuality Studies: 'Frames of Liveability: Sexual-scientific Encounter in Queer German Life Writing', 23rd February 2022 1-2.30pm
• Dr Sarah Pogoda, University of Bangor: 20th and 21st century Avant Garde, 30 March 2022, 1-2.30pm.
• Dr Toby Wikström, University of Iceland: 'Before Sentimental Empire: Slavery, Genre and Emotion on the Seventeenth-Century French Stage', 9 March 2022, 1-2pm - Joint with CEMS.
• Professor Laurence Grove, University of Glasgow: 'The Comics Canon', 4 May 2022, 1-2.30pm
• Dr Claire Nance, University of Lancaster, 'The Role of language professionals in minority language revitalisation: Users and shapers of Gaelic', 18 November 2021 (more info here )
• Dr Alasdair C Whyte, University of Glasgow: 'The importance of song in place-name studies, linguistic research and research impact', 8 December 2021 (more info here )
• Dr Laura Martin, University of Glasgow: 'Imagination and the Collective Unconscious as Gift: CG Jung in the Anthropocene', 24 February 2021
• Prof Nina Paris, University of Stirling: 'The UNREST project: War, Museums, Memory and Interpretation.' 17 March 2021
• Dr Eve Hayes, Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of London, School of Advanced Study: 'Legal Identity, Race and Belonging in the Dominican Republic', 6 October 1-2.30pm.
• Dr Fraser McQueen, University of Aberdeen/Stirling: 'Literary grands replacements in French and eco-fascism', 20 October, 2-3.30pm.
• Professor Laurence Grove, University of Glasgow: 'The Comics Canon', 26 January 2022, 1-2.30pm.
• Dr Peter Baker, University of Stirling: 'Theory and Practice of a Cinema of the Peoples: The Films of Alberto Muenala and Rupai', 9 February 2022, 1-2.30pm.
• Affiliated events: Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities Workshop: Decolonizing Methodologies and Approaches: The Modern Languages Perspective (7 May 2021) with Prof Nadia Kiwan; Prof Ed Welch (Aberdeen), Prof David Murphy (University of Strathclyde), Dr Rachel Douglas (University of Glasgow).
  
  This workshop explored how work in Modern Languages engages with current debates on decolonizing academic research and practice. It will consider the contribution of Modern Languages to date, in terms of the critical and theoretical paradigms developed within its disciplines, and what further questions need to be asked. In particular, it will explore what it might mean to decolonize research methodologies in Modern Languages, from the formulation of research questions to the use and critical interrogation of archives.

Associated Staff and Networks