Theses – what are they about?

Students in EUMASLI have written theses on many subjects, some of which have been published. We hope to publish more of them in time, but for now here are four the process so far to give a flavour of what it’s all about.

EUMASLI began as a result of a curriculum development project, funded within the EU Socrates Programme in 2006. While that project was underway, a BA thesis was written to support the project: Interpreting Management and policy in Finland, United Kingdom and Germany by Milla Hietaharju in 2009.

In the course of three EUMASLI cohorts – starting in January 2009, September 2013 and January 2017 – there have been more than 50 different topics for research projects. Several of them have looked into aspects of the work and practice of interpreters, like Kati Lakner’s MA thesis Interpreters at Terminology Work: Views to Professional Development, Language Policy and Language Management, in 2011.

Some of the MA thesis have formed part of a larger project. As a part of the European project Justisigns, in 2016, Carolien Doggen did her thesis Sign language interpreting in legal settings in Flanders: An exploratory study into the experiences of Flemish Deaf people in their contact with the justice system. This is also one of the works that have included reporting on the experiences of deaf people.

Katariina Valentin giving a presentation
Katariina Valentin presenting her MA thesis in Copenhagen in September 2019.

There are also several studies that have looked at interpreters’ work from a specific point of view. One example, from 2019, is “I don’t know if it’s because we’re women…”: Exploring the Relationship of Gender and the Signed Language Interpreting Profession by Katariina Valentin.

Have a look at the list of studies presented in September 2019 here. And there are more to come!

 

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Humak UAS is publishing all of the theses within a national academic publishing system in Finland, Theseus.fi. By writing the word “eumasli” in the search field, you should find all of the theses that have been published so far. (And, actually, even some other publications that mention the word.)