The world is becoming ever more complex and the world of audiovisual translation and media accessibility no less so. With ever more ways and ever more environments (cinema, TV, video games, computers, smart phones and glasses, social media etc.) in which to take part of (and in) audiovisual material, the complexities for AVT and MA are increasing.
Not only that, but more diverse groups of inhabitants of our audiovisual world (such as the visually, aurally or cognitively impaired, language learners, the elderly etc.) are demanding and getting their just rights as audiovisual citizens.
The media itself is also getting more complex, with more forms interacting (e.g. YouTube clips on facebook, surtitling in smart phones or glasses, cinema releases reappearing on streaming sites, interactive displays at museums etc.). Media has also become democratized, with more prosumer creating, and translating, their own content.
Furthermore, AVT and MA research is becoming ever more complex, as we search for understanding, not only by descriptive, text-centred studies, but also through experimental, viewer-centred studies using ever more complex methods (such as eyetracking, EEG, skin conductivity and fMRI scans). Understanding audiovisual content and impact has never been more important in this increasingly polarized world.
The aim of the conference
This conference is about creating and mediating understanding in an increasingly complex mediascape. Understanding not only of audiovisual content, but also understanding of and between producers, consumers and prosumers, understanding for the technical and cognitive processes involved, understanding for consumers’ needs and desires, and understanding of and for working conditions, among many other perspectives. So, let’s get together to understand all these complexities!
Call for papers
The organizers welcome papers in four different formats: workshops, panels, presentations and posters.
Call for workshop proposals
The day preceding the conference will include a number of workshops with a duration of either a full or a half day. We invite proposals for high-quality workshops within the scope of the conference (see also the themes below), which will give participants hands on experience of new approaches, new technology or new techniques in the fields of AVT and MA. Workshops could include new techniques, systems and practices for practitioners, as well as new approaches and methods for researchers.
A proposal for a workshop should include a description of the topic that will be taught as well as a detailed description of the planning of the workshop and what the participants can expect.
Deadline for submitting a workshop proposal is May 30, 2018.
Call for panel proposals
The organizers are opening up spaces for a few high-quality panels within the aim and scope of the conference. We invite panel proposals which focus on one specific theme of the conference (see below) and which are organized so that discussions with the audience are encouraged. Panels should have high scientific and academic quality, and panel organizers will present a suggested theme and draft programme for the panel. If the panel is accepted, panel organizers will also pre-screen the abstracts for each participant in the panel. Panel participants will be encouraged to submit speaking points rather than a paper. Each panel will have a duration of sixty minutes.
Deadline for submitting a panel proposal is May 30, 2018.
Call for poster proposals
The conference will include a poster exhibition and time will be set aside for a poster presentation slot. We therefore hope to see many high-quality applications for posters. We consider the poster format very valuable for presenting projects, whether they be completed studies or as work-in-progress. We would like to stress the importance of the visual element of posters, and thus encourage those researchers attending with a poster to prioritize the visual benefits of the poster, thus downsizing the written presentation, in order to ensure discussion and interaction with fellow scholars. There will be an award for the best poster.
Deadline for submitting a poster proposal is September 20, 2018.
Call for paper presentation proposals
The individual oral presentation of papers is the backbone of this conference. We welcome abstracts on, or related to, all the themes listed below. We encourage speakers to speak freely when presenting, rather than reading aloud from a pre-prepared paper. Spots for presentations will be 30 minutes long, including a ten-minute session for questions. Even though the organizers are preparing many slots for presentations, we will only accept high-quality contributions, which will be judged in a double-blinded peer review process. Depending on the content and the format of the paper presented in the abstract, the organizers may suggest resubmission in a different format.
Deadline for submitting a paper presentation proposal is September 20, 2018.
Submission instructions
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Full details: https://www.tolk.su.se/english/media-for-all-8/call-for-papers
Call for PapersSpecial Issue of The Translator and Interpreter Trainer (2028)Theme: (Re)Conceptualising User Agency in Audiovisual Translation Education.Editors: Jorge Díaz-Cintas, Lisi Liang, Hui Wang and Serenella Massidda. Topics may include:the (re)conceptualisation of “user agency” in the context of non-professional and/or fanbased AVT training;online users’ motivations for exerting agency in AI-powered AVT and its impact on the theory and practice of AVT training;online users’ creativity in specific domains of AVT, such as danmu subtitling, fansubbing/fandubbing, game localisation, access services, and voice synthesis technologies for media localisation and its impact on the theory and practice of AVT training;empirical studies focusing on the activation of user agency through verbal and/or nonverbal channels in online and offline AVT training, supported by robust research methods and with high potential for innovation in AVT pedagogy;the negotiation of agency between AI platform developers, users and educators in AVT training;the extent to which the exercise of user agency bridges or extends the boundaries between professional and non-professional, human and AI translation in AVT training;pedagogical, technological, and ethical implications of user agency for AVT training;the impact of AI-based AVT paradigm and user agency on the established translation training paradigm in AVTSubmission informationSubmission of proposals: 1 July 2026 (title and abstract of approx. 500 words, references included)Acceptance of submitted abstracts: 1 August 2026.Submission of full manuscripts: 1 February 2027 (up to 8,000 words, including references and notes).Acceptance of papers: October 2027Publication: Late Autumn/Winter 2028.More details: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/reconceptualising-user-agency-in-audiovisual-translation-education/
Call for Papers:Symposium: Translating Conflict: Language, Power, and the City.Location: Utrecht University — Languages in the City Series.Date: 22–23 April 2027Topics: Political and institutional translation: invisibility, neutrality, strategic mistranslation, asymmetrical communication.Conflict, post-conflict, humanitarian settings: diplomacy, peace negotiations, legal processes, ethics and positionality of translators, reconciliation.Resistance and public space: translation as activism, urban linguistic landscapes, social-media wars of meaning.Limits and exclusions: untranslatability, silencing, exclusion.Technology: AI-assisted translation in high-stakes settings.Exile and migration: translation, memory, and cultural continuity.Key dates:Submission deadline: 30/06/2026Notification: ~30/09/2026Symposium: 22–23 April 2027More details: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7451657930900361216-SP6Q?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAADAHFiwBi8jC4KbsaPPxHxBkCAx_UoukeoQ
Call for PapersEvent: the 16th International Symposium on Bilingualism.Place and date: University of Saskatchewan, Canada, June 14-18, 2027. Thems and topics:Bi-multilingual speech and communicationCognitive, neuro- and psycholinguisticsChild and adolescent bi-multilingual developmentAdult bi-multilingual developmentEducation and pedagogy HJHeritage, immigrant, regional and other minority languagesIndigenous languagesTranslation and InterpretingSociolinguistics and Sociology of languageSpeech-language pathology; Health CommunicationAbstract submission deadline: 1 October 2026. More details: https://conferences.usask.ca/isb16/
Call for Abstracts This is a call for an edited volume on 'Translators at Work in Periodicals: Agency, Mediation, and Cultural Power'. Edited by Ivana Hostová and Eva SpišiakováSuggested topics:• periodicals as infrastructures of literary, cultural, and intellectual mediation• translators, editors, reviewers, and other mediators shaping periodical cultures• translators’ multiple roles, including editing, curating, annotating, and framing• distributed, relational, or contested agency in periodical cultures• translator agency, editorial strategy, and activism• translation in peripheral, semi-peripheral, or politically unstable ecologies• periodicals as spaces of cultural resistance, ideological struggle, or symbolic negotiation• paratextual framing, editorial positioning, and the politics of selection• material and medial conditions of translation, including format, layout, page space, seriality, and multimodality• circulation of minoritized, marginalized, or non-canonical literatures• periodicals and the transfer of theory, philosophy, science, or political ideas• translation in periodicals and the making of national, regional, or transnational cultures• microhistorical or biographical studies of translators and editors• actor-network, social-network, bibliographic, or database-driven approaches• methodological reflections on blending close reading with large-scale or digitally assisted analysisDeadline for abstracts: 31 December 2026Deadline for full chapters: 31 July 2028Expected publication: 2029Full info: https://ktr.ff.ukf.sk/en/research/call-for-abstracts-translators-at-work-in-periodicals-agency-mediation-and-cultural-power/
Call for Papers:Conference: Global North and Global South Perspectives on Literature, Linguistics, and Translation.Organised by the Research Centre for Irish Studies (RCIS).Date: 7-8 June 2026. Main themes: Literature;Irish Studies;Linguistics;Translation, Power and Knowledge Circulation. Submission deadline: 30 April 2026More info: https://old.bue.edu.eg/global-north-and-global-south-perspectives-on-literature-linguistics-and-translation-conference-7-8-june-2026/
