Events
International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB 14)
26-30 June 2023
A hybrid conference hosted by Macquarie University with the support of the Multilingualism Research Centre
International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB) is a biennial conference on a wide range of issues concerning bi/multilingualism. Since its inaugural conference in 1997 at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, ISB has become the most significance conference in the field of bi/multilingualism. ISB has a strong focus on showcasing multidisciplinary research with a representation from a range of disciplines at every conference, including education, linguistics, neuroscience, psychology and sociology. The aim of ISB is to bring together bi/multilingualism researchers from all around the globe to advance the theoretical and applied research in bi/multilingualism, and to support bi/multilingualism practices in the community.
Conference theme: Diversity Now
The United Nations General Assembly has declared the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the critical status of many Indigenous languages across the world and encourage action for their preservation, revitalisation, and promotion. As we move into this decade, ISB14 encourages work especially involving lesser studied bilingual communities and interdisciplinary work to tackle bilingualism across the life-span, cultures and societies.
Call for Symposia open now - Deadline 1st September 2022
The Value of Languages in a Multilingual World
An online international conference hosted by the Multilingualism Research Centre at Macquarie University
13-15 December 2021
This three day conference brought together more than 150 participants and 80 presentations. Stimulating keynotes were delivered by an interdisciplinary panel, Alice Chik (MQU MRC) opened the conference with a presentation on multilingualism in Sydney, followed by Jill Vaughan (University of Melbourne) who offered insights on multilingualism from Indigenous Australia. On the second day, Katharina Wolf (Curtin University) spoke on multilingual engagement in Australia’s COVID-19 communication and on the third day, Natasha Klocker (University of Wollongong) brought a household perspective to research on urban multiculturalism. In opening evening keynotes timed for European participants, Jannis Androutsopoulos (Hamburg University) offered insights on the complex multilingual practices of digital diaspora and Terry Lamb (University of Westminster) closed the conference with an inspiring presentation on spaces of hope for a linguistically inclusive society. The conference ran smoothly thanks to the efforts of Chloe Castle, Conference Secretary, and her team of Centre HDR members, Crystal Yeong Ju Lee, Sun Jung Joo, Teguh Khaerudin and Josh Dahmen.
Keynotes and selected parallel presentations can be viewed on the Centre’s ‘Multilingual Sydney’ YouTube channel.
Postgraduate Conference on Multilingualism
Co-hosted by the Multilingualism Research Centre and the School of Education, University of New South Wales.
Saturday, 10 October 2020,
Australia’s first online Postgraduate Conference on Multilingualism was hosted by the Centre at Macquarie University in collaboration with the School of Education at UNSW. Originally planned as a local symposium to be held at Macquarie University, the event was moved online, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but considerably expanded in scope. The one-day Zoom conference included stimulating plenary presentations by Gary Barkhuizen (University of Auckland) and Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia (University of Queensland) and 48 HDR student presentations. With more than 100 participants from across Australia and New Zealand, the conference demonstrated the breadth and depth of postgraduate research on multilingualism and provided an opportunity for students to present papers prepared for conferences that had been cancelled due to Covid-19. MQU international students who were unable to return to Australia also took the opportunity to present from overseas. The conference was organized by a committee of HDR students - Conference Chair Yeong Ju Lee, Teguh Khaerudin (MQU), Lisa Gilanyi, Junjun Ramdani and Muhammad Zeeshan (UNSW).
Keynotes and selected parallel presentations can be viewed on the Centre’s ‘Multilingual Sydney’ YouTube channel.
Multicultural and Multilingual Australia: Community Roundtables
The Centre has hosted two community-university roundtables in collaboration with the State library of New South Wales. Multicultural and Multilingual Australia: The Challenges and Path Ahead was held on 9-10 December 2020. Centre members met with representatives of 30 NSW NSW government agencies community organisations in four roundtable sessions on the role of multilingualism in Australia’s social, economic, cultural and education futures. Participants engaged in a stimulating discussion on how languages impact their work, how they engage with multicultural and multilingual communities, and the kinds of research data that may contribute to future engagement. A follow up roundtable was held on 25 September 2021, at which MRC members met with 35 community representatives. Discussion focused on the development of a Language Inclusion Index (LI-Index), as a self-assessment tool to evaluate the degree to which organisations effectively serve multilingual clienteles. Several representatives expressed interesting in participating in a pilot project, which is now underway in collaboration with NSW Libraries and Ryde City Council. Originally planned to take place at the State Library of NSW, both events were held online due to the Covid-19. A third roundtable is planned to take place at the State Library in September 2022.
Seminar programme
The Centre has organised a highly successful programme of seminars in collaboration with MQU's Department of Linguistics and School of Education, in a mixture of online, on-campus and hybrid formats. Presenters have included Centre members and invited guests and attendance has been above 30 for most presentations.
Selected seminars can be viewed on the Centre’s ‘Multilingual Sydney’ YouTube channel, together with a selection of conference and other public presentations.