The International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) has held 6 conferences so far: Seoul in 2004, Cape Town in 2006, Melbourne in 2009, Belfast in 2012, Belo Horizonte in 2015, Hong Kong in 2018. The organisation of the 7^th IATIS Conference, to be held in Barcelona in July 2021, is now well underway, and already we’re turning our attention to the 8^th IATIS Conference, which is to be held in 2024.

IATIS would thus like to invite interested to prepare proposals to host the 2024 Conference following these guidelines.

Proposals to host the 2024 conference should be emailed to Dr. Julie Boéri, Chair of the IATIS Conference Committee, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., to arrive no later than June 30^th, 2021. Please put “IATIS 2024 Proposal” in the subject line. 

The IATIS Executive hopes to announce the venue for the 2021 IATIS Conference in Barcelona in September 2021.

Details of previous conferences and the forthcoming Barcelona Conference are available here: https://www.iatis.org/index.php/7th-conference-barcelona-2021  

A new Interpreting journal is born! Interpreting and Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal, focuses on the societal and scientific challenges posed by interpreting practice and enquiry from an interdisciplinary perspective. Founding co-editors: Julie Boéri & Wen Ren; review editor: Ella Wehrmeyer; published by Sage, in association with Beijing Foreign Studies University. Now welcoming contributions! Circulate the flyer!

The Organizing Committee is pleased to announce the following Artistic Initiative as part of the conference program:

The Charge of the Bull: A Labyrinth in Barcelona

By Matt Valler

Where Rambla de Catalunya meets Gran Via, The Thinking Bull sits with his back hunched to the traffic, lost in his memories. Perhaps he is remembering the scenes at the Plaça de Catalunya behind him and contemplating the future. Thousands of protestors forcibly evicted by a bullish police force in 2011. And yet so much protest has happened since then. The bull’s back is turned; is this his own protest or is it resignation? Does he believe, in his quiet contemplation, that the time of the bull is coming to an end?
In a city full of iconic buildings and well-known streets, this simple translation of an easily-ignored sculpture places it not just at a traffic intersection, but at a cultural intersection too. To translate El toro pensador is not just to re-name it, but to tentatively reveal it within the story of contemporary Barcelona.

Yet such a translation is always many-layered. Climate change poses risks to the city, with rising temperatures, water shortages and coastal flooding an increasingly likely feature of Barcelona’s future. With such an anthropogenic disaster looming, does the anthropomorphism of The Thinking Bull reflect the anthropocentrism that has led us to dominate and manipulate the natural world at great cost? Just behind the sculpture is a statue of Joan Güell i Ferrer, the wealthy slave-trader whose money helped kick-start the development of the Eixample district. That was once a future to contrast with the city’s walled past. Now the future seems equally uncertain, and the pathways to reach it just as ethically fraught. 

For IATIS 2021 conference, I am proposing to design and facilitate an interactive Labyrinth storytelling experience through the streets of Barcelona. Labyrinth is a project that explores the meaning of city spaces by uncovering complex stories told through the physical features of a place. Walking between a series of locations, translations of spaces - such as the above at el toro pensador - are woven into an uncertain, emerging narrative that invites participants into a series of questions, designed to embroil them in the ecology of the city.

At this early concept stage, I propose a Labyrinth called The Charge of the Bull that begins in the Parc de la Ciutadella, then walks west to Plaça del Rei before turning north-west to El toro pendsador and on to Casa Batiló, returning via Arc de Tiomf. A route like this would require approximately 2hrs, and therefore a space in the programme of at least 2.5hrs. I would anticipate hosting a facilitated group walk, but this experience could also be delivered via pre-recorded audio for individual self-guided walks. Given the time of year it would be preferable to schedule walks away from the heat of the day. Every Labyrinth I design is always an iterative work, so specific details can be amended depending on the conference requirements.

 For informal enquiries: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Scientific Committee (SciCom)

Victòria Alsina, UPF, Barcelona, Spain

Fabio Alves, UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brasil

Gemma Andújar, UPF, Barcelona, Spain

Frederic Chaume Varela, UJI, Castelló, Spain

Eva Espasa, UVic, Vic, Spain

Anna Espunya, UPF, Barcelona, Spain

Lucía Molina, UAB, Barcelona, Spain

Marie-Noëlle Guillot, UEA, Norwich, England

Irene Ranzato, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

Patricia Rodríguez, UAB, Barcelona, Spain

Sara Rovira-Esteve, UAB, Barcelona, Spain

Agnieszka Szarkowska, UW, Warsaw, Poland

Núria Bel, UPF, Barcelona, Spain

Maialen Marin-Lacarta, HKBU, Hong Kong, China

Olga Torres, UAB, Barcelona, Spain

Organising Committee

Chaired by Patrick Zabalbeascoa, UPF

María Aguilar, UPF

Mario Bisiada, Lecturer, UPF

Julie Boéri, HBKU, Chair of IATIS International Conferences Committee

Jenny Brumme, UPF

Montserrat Cunillera, UPF

Marta Marfany, UPF

Luis Pegenaute, UPF

Dídac Pujol, UPF

The Organising Committee is committed to offering an onsite Conference but given the difficulties some of you may experience in being present on campus, we are switching to a hybrid mode of delivery, allowing for remote attendance or on-site attendance. However, on-site attendance will only be available for delegates who are scheduled to speak at the conference; remote attendance will only be available to some speaker-participants (priority given to to speakers with travel restrictions). This is because the Organising Committee intends to strike a balance between the need to encourage face-to-face, on-site interaction, the need to accommodate for people’s travel restrictions and the obligation to ensure social distancing and any other safety and health regulations applicable at the time of the conference. 

Please note that IATIS offers a bursary and the OC has raised a solidarity fund for delegates experiencing difficulties in the pandemic. Deadline 30 April 2021. Check eligibility and application process here.  

For on-site participation, please check entry restrictions and authorizations, on the Spanish Ministry of Health portal, updated every two weeks.

Note: Early bird deadline is 30th May, and all fees are shown in EUROS

Registration is required for all presenters and participants of the conference. Co-authors do not need to register unless they plan to participate in the conference.

Registration fees, in euros, for the IATIS Barcelona Conference are as follows:

ON CAMPUS — physical attendance

OFF CAMPUS — online participation

You can check the corresponding fee in your own currency by consulting online currency converters.

Register via the following webpage: https://forms.creacongresos.com/iatis2021/

>>> Before registering, read the conference policy. <<<

ON Campus registration fee includes attendance to the sessions, active participation, conference materials and campus WI-FI access. 

OFF Campus registration fee includes all of the same services as On Campus participation, except for some conference materials (like pens and badges), plus the additional technical support required to enable online participation.

Catering fee is for lunches and coffee breaks throughout the Conference.

All fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. They do not cover travel, accommodation, conference dinner or other meals not specified, but they can be switched from on-site to off-site or vice-versa with the necessary refunds or extra payment in the event of change of type of participation. All fees allow for remote access to all presentations in parallel sessions live and recorded by registered participants only, and for the period of one month.

An official letter of acceptance will be provided upon request.

Registering as an IATIS member

If you want to register as an IATIS member, please make sure your affiliation is valid between the moment you register and the last day of the conference. You can check your status by logging in onto the IATIS main page and by clicking upon my membership. This information will be cross-checked on the IATIS DATABASE by the Conference organisers.

In order to subscribe to IATIS or to renew your membership, please click HERE.

Delegates will have to register early bird (by 30 May 2021) to have their presentations included in the conference programme. After 30 May 2021, late registration will be open only to those wishing to attend the conference without giving any form of presentation whatsoever. 

 CONFERENCE DATES: 14-17 September 2021

DEADLINES:

▪ 30 November 2020: Deadline for potential presenters to submit proposals.

▪ 15 January 2021: Deadline for panel convenors to evaluate the paper proposals submitted for their own panel.

▪ 15 February 2021: Notification of acceptance to presenters (all formats).

Registration

▪ 25 February 2021: Registration opens

▪ 30 May 2021: Early-bird registration closes 

▪ 30 June 2021: Registration closes for speakers

See fees