Travel Bursary Report January 2025 - Xueting Dignam
Xueting Dignam is a PhD candidate in the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences.
Thanks to Trinity Research in Social Sciences (TRiSS) for sponsoring my conference trip to Norway! With this support, I presented partial findings from my PhD study, titled “Are ‘professional’ interpreters forging their own pathways to professionalism?” to the participants of the 5th International Conference on Translation, Interpreting and Cognition (ICTIC 5). The conference was held in Kristiansand, Norway from 2 – 4 June 2025. My presentation explored and demonstrated the application of a developmental science framework in order to understand the professionalism development among interpreters on the ground in Ireland.
The conference featured many concurrent panels over three days. I was particularly interested in cutting-edge research within the cognitive processing paradigm and engaged in discussions and Q&A sessions related to assessment metrics of interpreting performances. The conference included four keynote speeches in total, which addressed pressing challenges in the field, especially the impact of AI and technology on translation and interpreting process.
Attending this conference was invaluable, not only for sharing my own research work but also for expanding my professional network. I was beyond excited to discover that there were studies of similar interests as mine being conducted in other parts of the world. The professional conversations, connections and invitations resulted from this conference was incredibly enriching. One key takeaway was learning about eye-tracking design for public service interpreting. Great questions and feedback to my presentation helped me refine my dissertation and develop a manuscript for the special issue. Overall, this conference was an eye-opening experience during my PhD journey!