Florence Encrevé – France – Head of the Scientific Committee
Florence Encrevé is an Associate Professor in linguistics at the University Paris 8 (France) and a member of the research team ‘Sign Language and Gestuality’ at the linguistics laboratory « Structures Formelles du Langage » (UMR 7023) since 2013. She is a qualified sign language interpreter since 2000, and PhD in History since 2008. Jointly (with Brigitte Garcia) she coordinates the Master degree program in sign language interpreting at the University Paris 8. She is a co-founder of the AFILS’s French scientific journal ‘Double sens’ (with Sandrine Burgat) since 2014. Her research focuses are LSF/French interpreting and translating, didactics of LSF/French interpreting and translating, history of sign language, deaf and LSF/French interpreting in the 18th-20th centuries. Her main publications are ‘Les sourds dans la société française au XIXe siècle. Idée de progrès et langue des signes’ [Deaf in French society in the 19th century. Idea of progress and sign language], Grâne: Créaphis, 2012; ‘L’interprétation en langue des signes’ [Sign language interpreting], Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2007 (with Alexandre Bernard and Francis Jeggli).
Gemma Barberà Altimira – Spain
Gemma Barberà (Ph.D.) is a lecturer of sign language grammar and interpreting at the Faculty of Translation and Interpretation at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) since 2015. She earned her PhD in Sign Language discourse in 2012, with a thesis investigating the role of spatial locations in the grammar and the discourse of Catalan Sign Language, which resulted in the publication The meaning of space in sign language (De Gruyter Mouton and Ishara Press). She holds a Master degree in Cognitive Science and Language (2007) and has a background in Translation and Interpretation (BA in 2001). Dr. Barberà has been teaching sign language linguistics and sign language interpreting since 2004 at different national and international institutions and at different degree levels. She was a member of the committees that designed the structure and implementation of the BA degrees (Translation and Interpreting and Applied Languages), within which LSC is taught at UPF. She is the coordinator of the first reference corpus project of LSC, which consists in the collection, editing, annotation and online dissemination of data of different native signers from all over Catalonia. She is also the coordinator of the project CREA-LSC, a centre of reference of online resources that will constitute a pioneering virtual space supplied with specialized resources, experimental research and instructional materials on LSC.
Professional website: https://gemmabarbera.wordpress.com
Yann Cantin – France
Yann Cantin, historian, is a lecturer at the University of Paris 8, in the “Laboratoire Structures Formelles du Langage,” where he works on the deaf French community, his origins, and especially on the history of french sign language. His works mainly concern the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He has also been teaching conference interpretation since 2003, from French to the LSF, where he tackles the issue of the meaning of terms in both languages.
Martin Chapuis – Switzerland
Martin Chapuis is a French-sign language interpreter (Swiss Federation of the Deaf, Fondation procom, Radio Télévision Suisse). He is also a member of the Scientific Committee for the Training of Sign Language Interpreter at the EESP in Lausanne and was responsible for the training of interpreters in sign language, School of interpretation and translation (ETI), University of Geneva.
Thomas Geissler – Germany
Thomas Geissler is a Deaf lecturer in the field of Deaf Studies in the Department Deaf Studies and Sign Language Interpreting at Humboldt University in Berlin since 2003. He is teaching in the areas of Deaf Studies, Deaf culture and (German) Sign Language(s). He is especially interested and involved in research in Deaf Studies and Sign Language in the academic discourse. Thomas Geissler is also involved in many different projects. The last one focused on the development of a special software for better translation exercises. The latest project is already planned and deals with a new didactic concept, the so called Blended Learning in Sign Language Reception according to CEFR. Thomas Geissler gives international presentations regularly. He is a member of the working team “Deaf people and Sign Language Interpreters” and of the quality committee for Sign Language Interpreters. Furthermore he is politically engaged in the field of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, especially for Deaf people.
Marianna Hatzopoulou – Greece
Marianna Hatzopoulou (Ph.D.) is a qualified Greek Sign Language Interpreter and has been an active member of the Greek Sign Language Association, since 1989. She earned her PhD on Greek Sign Language Acquisition from Stockholm University, Department of Sign Language Linguistics. She studied at the University of Athens on primary (1985) and preschool education (1990). In 1985-1986 she majored in deaf studies and in 1989-1990 in the interpretation of Greek Sign Language. Today she is the Principal of Likovrisi-Pefki Primary School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She has worked for the National Federation of the Deaf in many European and world conferences, seminars and university programs. She has taught in the Special Education In-Service Training Program for Teachers at the University of Athens (TEAPI 1996-2009), the Post-graduate Program “HUMAN RIGHTS” at the University of Athens (TEAPI 2000- 2007) and many other adult education programs for teacher and interpreter trainings. She has made numerous presentations at Greek and European conferences. She has publications in Greek journals and books on education and language acquisition of the Deaf, she has written a monograph in English on Greek Sign Language Acquisition and a book in Greek on the education of the Deaf. Her research interests include Sign Language linguistics, interpreting techniques, teacher and interpreter training.
Alexis Karacostas – France
Dorijana Kavčić – Croatia
Dorijana Kavčić is currently attending a PhD program at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, linguistics department, with special interest in language acquisition of the Deaf and reciprocal influences between sign language and spoken language. She is involved in organizing and holding public academic lectures arising awareness of Croatian Sign Language and the Culture of the Deaf. Also, she is conducting Croatian Sign Language teaching programs, organizing and implementing various teaching methodologies. As an employee of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Association Zagreb, she is a Croatian Sign Language interpreter working in variety of settings such as medical, judiciary, educational, government, TV broadcasting and conferences. Most recently, she has been involved in a pilot project of Closed Captioning at National Croatian Television, in methodology implementation and as language advisor.
Lorraine Leeson – Ireland
Dr. Lorraine Leeson is Ireland’s inaugural Professor of Deaf Studies. She serves as Director of Research at the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity College Dublin (University of Dublin) and Co-Director of the College’s Centre for Deaf Studies. Her research work focuses on the linguistics and applied linguistics of sign languages, including interpreting studies. She has engaged in pan-European research work with academic institutions, Deaf communities and interpreting organisations for over 25 years: current projects include “DESIGNS” (Erasmus+), which focuses on deaf graduates’ access to employment and “Promoting Excellence in Sign Language Instruction” (European Centre for Modern Languages). In 2008, she was named European Language Ambassador for her work. Lorraine has been an interpreter for over 20 years and is Co-Chair of the European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters Committee of Experts. She co-authored “Sign Language in Action” with Prof. Jemina Napier (Palgrave, 2016), and is co-author of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) Yearbook, “Interpreting and the Politics of Recognition” with Dr. Christopher Stone (Routledge, 2017).
Laurence Meurant – Belgium
Laurence Meurant is Research Associate for the F.R.S-FNRS at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Namur (Belgium). She is head of the Laboratory of French-Belgian Sign Language (LSFB-Lab) where, since 2012, 11 people are involved in Sign Language linguistics research and applied research. Her research focuses on the linguistic description of the French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB): morphology, syntax, enunciation, discourse; on contrastive linguistics: French – LSFB; and on linguistic issues of education in context of bilingual (Spoken – Sign Language) learning. Principal investigator of the F.R.S-FNRS Incentive Grant for Scientific research – M.I.S. “Corpus LSFB” (2012-2015), she has collected the first digital open access corpus of movies and annotations of French Belgian Sign Language (www.corpus-lsfb.be). She develops the pioneering discourse and corpus based studies in LSFB.
Giulia Petitta – Italy
Giulia Petitta, PhD, is an Italian Sign Language interpreter and linguist. She conducted research both on spoken and signed languages, with focus on discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, written representation, translation and simultaneous interpretation. After her PhD (2011), she worked for different academic institutions in Europe and the USA, and has been involved in several research projects. She has served as Lazio Regional Representative of the Italian Association of Professional Sign Language Interpreters, ANIOS, between 2013 adn 2016. Dr. Petitta is currently investigating language attitude in the Deaf communities in Europe and USA, with a focus on the linguistic background of sign language teachers and interpreters.
Christopher Stone – United-Kingdom
Christopher Stone, PhD, joined the Department of Interpretation at Gallaudet University during the spring of 2013 as an Associate Professor. He earned his PhD in Sign Language Interpreting from the University of Bristol (2006) where he researched Deaf translators working within television news rendering English into British Sign Language, which resulted in his publication of ‘Towards a Deaf Translation Norm’ (Gallaudet University Press 2009). Dr Stone is currently in receipt of a Spencer Foundation grant for the project “The development of Deaf legal discourse,” which examines the use of ASL by Deaf lawyers. He has explored (with Dr. Robert Adam and Dr. Breda Carty) Deaf people working as translators and interpreters within the Deaf community and at the institutional interface. He is also studying Deaf/nonDeaf interpreting teams in international conference settings with Dr. Debra Russell. His first postdoctoral research post was based at the Deafness Cognition and Language (DCAL) research centre, University College, London, undertaking a longitudinal study examining predictors for sign language learning and sign language interpreter aptitude, which he is currently completing.