Fifth biannual REAL symposium. Theme “Human Capital, Languages, and New Literacies: Theories, Policies, and Impacts”“Human Capital, Languages, and New Literacies: Theories, Policies, and Impacts”

Date: 03-Jun-2024 - 04-Jun-2024
Location: Tarragona, Spain
Contact: Bengt-Arne Wickström
Contact Email: [email protected]
Meeting URL: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/research/topic/social-work-and-social-policy/research-themes/public-administration/research/real-group

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics

Meeting Description:

Fifth biannual REAL symposium, 03/04 June 2024. Theme “Human Capital, Languages, and New Literacies: Theories, Policies, and Impacts”
REAL (Research group “Economics, policy analysis, and language”) in cooperation with Ulster University, Universitat de Barcelona, and Universitat Rovira i Virgili organizes an interdisciplinary symposium on “Human Capital, Languages, and New Literacies: Theories, Policies, and Impacts” on 3–4 June 2024 at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona-Reus, Catalonia, Spain.
The symposium aims to discuss the relationship between languages and human capital in the widest possible sense while paying attention also to the new forms of literacies that the digital revolution has brought about. Contributions to the symposium can cover theoretical and empirical research on the topic, or the practical implications in terms of language policy and impact. The symposium is interdisciplinary, and contributions are accepted from economics, political science, sociology, law, sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. Submissions addressing the general theme of the symposium are invited, including, but not limited to, the following topics:
• The value of languages in the labor market and/or in the economic system as a whole
• Language diversity, human capital and socio-economic development
• New forms of literacies required in and by the market
• Language policies and human capital acquisition
• Linguistic diversity and staff development in both public administration and the private sector
• Theory of human capital in multilingual contexts
• Linguistic inequalities in human capital development and new literacies acquisition
• Linguistic justice and human capital
• Language policy evaluation
Keynote Speakers
1. Anthony Pym:Distinguished Professor of Translation and Intercultural Studies at Rovira i Virgili University in Spain, Professor Extra-ordinary at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and Honorary Professor at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. He was Visiting Researcher at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California from 2008 to 2016 and President of the European Society for Translation Studies from 2010 to 2016. He has published more than 240 articles on translation and intercultural communication.
2. Rajesh Ramachandran:Senior lecturer at Monash University Malaysia and co-director at the chair of International and Development Politics, Universität Heidelberg (appointment by courtesy). He obtained his PhD from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and previously held positions at Goethe-Universität and Universität Heidelberg. His research lies at the intersection of development economics and political economy. His primary research interests include political linguistics and language policy, economics of caste, and economics of education and health. His work has been published in journals such as the American Political Science Review, Journal of Development Economics and World Development, as well as appeared in policy documents such as the Global Education Monitoring Report of the UNESCO.
Those interested in presenting a paper should send an abstract of no more than 500 words to Bengt-Arne Wickström [email protected] before the 15th of April 2024.
The program committee consists of Amado Alarcón (Universitat Rovira i Virgili), Antonio Di Paolo (Universitat de Barcelona), Michele Gazzola (Ulster University, REAL), and Bengt- Arne Wickström, chair (Andrássy-Universität, REAL). Responsible for the local organization are Amado Alarcón and Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara (Universitat Rovira i Virgili). The Local organization committee works under the auspice of the Research Group “Social and Organization Analysis” and the research project “Literacies and Occupations in the Digital Era” funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain.

The deadline for paper submissions has been extended to the 15th of April (instead of the 31st of March 2024), and the symposium webpage has been updated, see https://www.congressos.urv.cat/real-symposium-2024-human-capital/