Prof. Dr. Morven Beaton-Thome

My current teaching focuses on the theory and practice of interpreting (English). Courses offered include Interpreting Studies; Discourse and Text Analysis; Consecutive and Simultaneous Interpreting D-E; Note-taking for Consecutive Interpreting; Translation for Interpreters; Multilingual Conference Interpreting; Area Studies (English); Liaison Interpreting.

My current research focuses on (1) interpreter agency and ideological positioning in institutional settings, and the impact of interpreters as gatekeepers of multilingual discourse; (2) negotiation and construction of the Self/Other dichotomy and the positioning of language(s) and interpreters in discourse, particularly in contexts of nationalism and immigration; (3) research in interpreting pedagogy and didactics, specifically related to the development of situated expertise and communities of practice. Methodologically, I am particularly interested in descriptive and ethnographic research as a means of conceptualising participant and interpreter response to heteroglossic debate. I am delighted to be a partner on the four year Spanish research project “Frames and Narratives of Translation and of Migration in Europe”, coordinated by Mario Bisiada and Maria Aguilar Solano at Pompeu Fabra, which was awarded funding in July 2020 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. My contribution will focus on discourses of migration and ethnographic research into interpreted interaction between authorities and migrants in Germany.

I started my research career with a PhD on ideology and simultaneous interpreting in 2008 under the supervision of Ian Mason and Colin B. Grant at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Since then, I have published in international peer-reviewed journals such as The Translator and the Journal of Language and Politics, have contributed book chapters to a number of edited volumes and have just concluded co-editing an edited volume drawing on research presented at the CGN18 research conference in December 2018. I am also a contributor to the Routledge Encyclopedia of Interpreting Studies. My research interests continue to revolve around the ideological role of interpreting in institutional settings and the issue of individual and collective interpreter agency and positioning, particularly related to migration and identity.