ECSPM is organising this year’s annual symposium to celebrate 10 years of development, expansion and enlargement as an organisation independent from the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission, which initially launched it.
The “Actions for social justice in multilingual societies” symposium (concept note here) is hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) on May 15th and 16th, and co-organised by the Multilingualism, Discourse, and Communication Research Centre (MIRCo), building on the insights derived from its Equiling research project and from previous ECSPM symposia.
The event features lectures, panel, and roundtable discussions addressing critical issues related to linguistic justice in social and educational contexts. Speakers will examine how language shapes inequalities, the role of multilingual policies in European university alliances, and the impact of linguistic diversity on research and publishing. Moreover, on both symposium days, there will be engaged dialogue regarding work that the ECSPM is engaged in:
– Linguistic justice in research and publishing as a collaborator of the CoARA Multilingualism WG
– Implementing a European Teacher Academy programme on Teaching for Life and Digital Competences through Plurilingual Action-Oriented Pedagogy
– Developing a Knowledge Hub on the ECSPM website, dedicated to Cross-linguistic Communication, Translation, and Interpretation.
The symposium will take place at La Cristalera UAM centre which is a beautiful, self-contained residence in the mountains in Miraflores de la Sierra, close to Madrid, that will give participants a unique opportunity to be altogether for a full two days and three evenings so they can also mingle, discuss issues of mutual concern and develop collaborations
Programme:
09:00 – 09:15
Welcome to UAM address
Irene Martín, Vice Rector for Internationalisation
09:15 – 09:30
Welcome to the 2025 Symposium
ECSPM president, Bessie Dendrinos
09:30 – 10:30
“Challenges and Theoretical and Methodological Proposals for a Sociolinguistics Committed to Social Justice”
Speaker 1: Luisa Martín Rojo, MIRCo director, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)
Speaker 2: Maite Puigdevall Serralvo, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
10:30 – 11:30
Panel: EquiLing: the role of language in the construction of contemporary inequalities
Speakers: Estibaliz Amorrortu, University of Deusto; Gabriela Prego, University of Santiago de Compostela and Joan Pujolar, Universidad Oberta de Catalunya
Coordinator: Jos Swanenberg, Tilburg University
11:30 – 12:00 Coffee
12:00 – 13:15
Panel: Action research for social justice in education
Speakers: Ben Rampton, King’s College London; Christina Hedman, Stockholm University; Virginia Unamuno, CONICET; Miren Otxotorena, UAM
Coordinator: Júlia Llompart, UAM
13:15 – 14:15 Lunch
14:15 – 15:30
La legislación como (in)acción: relevancia y límites de la Carta Europea para las Lenguas Regionales o Minoritarias
Legislation as (in)action: relevance and limits of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
Speaker: Fernando Ramallo Fernández, Universidade de Vigo
Discussants: Anna Jungner-Nordgren, Senior Advisor in International and Nordic Affairs at the Swedish Assembly of Finland, Folktinget, also a member of the board of NPLD
15:30 – 16:30
Language policy, social justice and multilingualism in Canada: Calls for inclusion and linguistic de-hierarchization in education and society
Speaker: Nikolay Slavkov, University of Ottawa
Discussant: Shelley Taylor, the University of Western Ontario
16:30 – 17:00
Recap and discussion
Coordinated by Clara Molina Avila, UAM
20:00 Dinner
09.00 – 10:15
Language, anticipation, and the (un)making of futures: The university as a terrain of struggle
Speaker: Miguel Pérez-Milans, University College London
Discussant: Eva Codó Olsina, UAM, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Multilingua
10:15 – 11:30
Panel: European University Alliances – Multilingual policies for research, academic collaboration and communication of research results
Participants: Bernadette O’Rourke, University of Glasgow, member of the CIVIS University Alliance; Irini Tsamadou-Jacoberger, University of Strasbourg, member of the EPICUR University Alliance, Ulrike Jessner-Schmid, University of Innsbruck, member of the Aurora University Alliance, Maria Luisa Pérez Cañado, University of Jaén, member of the Neolaia Alliance
Discussion led by: Theodoros Marinis, University of Konstanz, member of the ERUA University Alliance
11:30 – 12:00 Coffee
12:00 – 13:00
ECSPM as a member of the CoARA Multilingualism WG for linguistic justice in research and publishing
Janne Pölönen, Chair of CoARA Multilingualism WG & Josep M. Cots, Universitat de Lleida
Q&A led by: Rafaella Lenoir, CoARA coordinator at UAM
13:00 – 13:15
Presentation of the ECSPM Declaration for Multilingualism and future actions
Speaker: Guðrún Gísladóttir, ECSPM General Secretary
13:15 – 14:15 Lunch
14:15 – 15:45
Roundtable: Implementing an ERASMUS+ European Teacher Academy project
Contributors: Evdokia Karavas and Bessie Mitsikopoulou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA); Andrea Young and Hélène Le Levier, University of Strasbourg; Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer, University of Hamburg; Monica Barni, Sapienza University of Rome; Agnieszka Gadomska, SWPS University, Warsaw and Silvia Minardi, President of LEND, Italian professional association for language teacher training, Ester Saiz Lobado, UAM
Coordinators: Gunhild T. Alstad and Marte Nordanger, University of Inland Norway
15:45 – 17:00
Roundtable: Developing a Knowledge-Hub on Cross-lingual communication, Translation and Interpretation
Contributors: Effie Fragkou, NKUA; Péter Szabó, involved in university training and examination of interpreters; Loredana Polezzi, Stonybrook, N.Y.; Maria Roccaforte, Sapienza University of Rome; Ester Saíz Lobado, UAM
Led by: Hector Grad, UAM
17:00 – 17:30
Recap and discussion with symposium participants about issues to investigate in the future and questions to raise
Q&A led by: Linda Fisher, University of Cambridge