CfP: Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series– Themes in Translation Studies

Translation and interpreting are increasingly shaped by complex, real-world technological, institutional, and socio-cultural contexts. Yet, research that emerges from direct engagement with these contexts often remains underrepresented in scholarly publishing. Collaborative research, understood as research conducted by or with practitioners, offers a vital corrective: it brings to light the lived realities, adaptive strategies, and situated expertise of professionals working within and alongside evolving systems. Academia-industry collaboration is the cornerstone of future-facing and impactful translation and interpreting education and research. This special issue aims to showcase how collaborative research and educational partnerships with the professional world advance theory, push disciplinary boundaries, and deepen our understanding of translation and interpreting as practices shaped by social, cultural, and pedagogical contexts.

Synergising professional experience and field research has gained significant attention in recent years, particularly in certain areas such as audiovisual translation (Tuominen & Silvester, 2025) and language automation technology (Rodríguez de Céspedes & Bawa Mason, 2022). Although perhaps rare in other fields within the arts and humanities, academics who also professionally involved in the industry are relatively common in translation and interpreting. This has logically led to certain research outputs focusing on aspects such as working conditions and translation rates (Carreira, 2023; Lambert & Walker, 2022, 2024) and trust in translation project management (Olohan & Davitti, 2015), among many other areas of scholarly interest that can be found in recent publications on the translation industry (Angelone, Massey & Ehrensberger-Dow, 2019; Walker & Lambert, 2025).

Themes

The journal invites manuscripts that engage with one or more of the following key themes, while also welcoming fresh perspectives that expand the conversation:

• Wellbeing, resilience, and soft skills in translation and interpreting practice;

• Employability and career pathways for graduates entering the language professions;

• Situated learning and work placements as bridges between academia and industry;

• Embedding professional practice in teaching through practitioner involvement and industry-informed curricula;

• Networks, support systems, and alumni engagement for sustainable career development;

• Diversity, equity, and inclusion: embracing difference in collaborative contexts;

• Educating clients, companies, and end users about translation and interpreting, including AI/MT-mediated content;

• Ethical collaborations and responsible partnerships between academia and industry;

• Innovation, co-creation, and participatory research methods;

• Enjoyment and rewards of the language professions (slow translation);

• Ways in which academia-industry synergies generate new knowledge, foster innovation, and support inclusive, context-sensitive scholarship.

Practical information

Selected papers will be submitted to a double-blind peer review.

Submission of paper proposals (including a title and an abstract of approximately 300 words, excluding references) should be sent to all three guest editors:

Xiaochun Zhang (xiaochun.zhang@ucl.ac.uk)

Alejandro Bolanos-Garcia-Escribano (a.bolanos@ucl.ac.uk)

Olivia Cockburn (o.cockburn@ucl.ac.uk)

 Deadlines

Abstract deadline: 1 May 2026

Acceptance of abstract proposals: 1 July 2026

Submission of papers: 1 December 2026

Acceptance of papers: March 2027

Submission of final versions of papers: 1 June 2027

Editorial work (proofreading, APA, layout): September – October 2027

Publication: December 2027