Tag: education
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Who Speaks for Academia? An Open Letter to ITI’s University Members on Due Diligence, Representation and Academic Independence
The CEO of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) is due to speak at an upcoming Association of Translation Companies (ATC) event in a discussion framed around “academia, associations and community”. But who, exactly, speaks for “academia”? The ITI has a controversial membership structure: it offers membership to individual translators and interpreters, universities, and…
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Dear Translators and Interpreters, You Are Not Alone!
Last week, I watched the drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office because I was looking for inspiration, strength and resilience. As I navigate my own efforts to complete my thesis on the injustices faced by public-service interpreters, I wanted to watch the story of people who persisted in questioning a system that seemed overwhelmingly…
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Corporate Capture of Academic Narratives or Productive Industry–University Collaboration?
Over the past three years, my PhD research has focused on inequality in the UK’s public service interpreting sector. Through survey research, policy analysis and documentary evidence, I have been investigating what outsourcing and commercial intermediation have meant for the people who actually provide language services. The picture that emerged is deeply troubling. Public service…
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Draft Ethical Principles for Professional Organisations
Over the past three years, I’ve spent a great deal of time analysing the role of professional organisations in the translation and interpreting sector as part of my research on the ethical governance of precarious labour. I’ve written extensively about what I believe is going wrong. I’d now like to shift the conversation towards what…
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Reflections on My Industry–Academia Collaboration and Why I Call on Universities to Undertake Serious Due Diligence
Over the past few years, I have spoken and written extensively about labour rights, power, and industry–academia collaboration within Translation Studies. Some readers may wonder why these issues have become such a central focus of my work. The answer lies partly in my own experience. I joined an industry–academia doctoral collaboration believing it would provide…
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Collaboration or Exclusion? Why is Translation Studies Still Ignoring Power and Legitimacy?
As someone researching equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), with a focus on labour rights and working conditions in the translation and interpreting industry, I have been deeply concerned by growing calls for industry–academia collaboration within Translation Studies. The value of collaboration is often asserted rather than supported by evidence or logical arguments. These collaborations are…
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Language Justice Reading List
The list includes articles I have written on the topics of equality and labour rights for interpreters and translators, including empirical research, policy analysis, and critical commentary. They are grouped by theme rather than method, and some contributions appear in multiple categories. The importance of justice and fairness extends beyond the translation industry. As economist…
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Three Simple Ways Translators Can Reclaim Agenda-Setting Power
Many translators and interpreters are facing growing challenges. Rates continue to fall, financial insecurity is intensifying, and stories of unfair treatment circulate widely across professional networks. Yet translators are often excluded from shaping the conversations about the profession. At conferences, within professional organisations, and in some academic and industry discussions, narratives that align closely with…
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Collaboration Everywhere: Is There Still Space to Critically Examine the Role of Intermediaries in Shaping Translators’ Pay and Working Conditions?
Collaboration between academia and industry is increasingly presented as an unqualified good in Translation Studies. It is associated with relevance, impact, employability, and practice-oriented scholarship. Yet collaboration is not neutral. In fields shaped by precarious labour markets, outsourcing regimes, and concentrated commercial power, it can also provide certain actors with privileged access to knowledge production,…
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After the BBC Investigation into Death, Bodily Harm, and Exploitation: What Translator Organisations’ Responses Reveal About Representation Failures in Public Service Interpreting
This article offers a chronological review of professional representation in UK public service interpreting over the past three years. It raises questions about whether professional organisations are adequately representing practitioners’ interests or have become increasingly aligned with commercial interests. In 2023, the BBC published an investigation linking interpreting failures in healthcare settings to cases of…
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Educating End Clients About the Economic Conditions of the Translation Industry is Part of Change-Making: It Must Begin with Holding Professional Organisations Accountable
End clients—whether production companies, public institutions, agencies, or private service users—play a decisive role in shaping the economic conditions of translation and interpreting work. Through procurement choices, contracting models, and expectations around price and turnaround, they can influence how value and responsibility are distributed across translation supply chains. In this sense, end clients are not…
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