Full Title: MEDAL Conference: New challenges, novel approaches

Date: 09-Oct-2025 - 10-Oct-2025
Location: University of Tartu, Estonia

Linguistic Field(s): Computational Linguistics; General Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics

Call Deadline: 07-Mar-2025

2nd Call for Papers:

The deadline for the Call for Papers for the ‘Methodological Excellence in Data-Driven Approaches to Linguistics: New challenges, novel approaches’ (MEDAL) Conference, to take place on 9-10 October 2025 at the University of Tartu, Estonia, has been extended to 7 March 2025. The original text is below:

We invite abstract submissions for the ‘Methodological Excellence in Data-Driven Approaches to Linguistics: New challenges, novel approaches’ (MEDAL) Conference, to take place on 9-10 October 2025 at the University of Tartu, Estonia. Abstracts should highlight the challenges, innovative combinations or comparisons of methods used in data-based approaches to language use. This conference marks the culmination of MEDAL, a three-year international consortium project focused on methodological and linguistic diversity and innovation in empirical linguistics and on enhancing the methodological skills of early-career language researchers. The scientific committee will prefer research based on multiple methods and submissions by early-career researchers. We also encourage submissions of replications and research using Open Science, cross-linguistic research and the inclusion of less-researched languages.

Motivation for both the MEDAL project and this conference stems from the enormous advances made in linguistics through becoming a more empirically based discipline. This has been made possible by developing increasingly sophisticated methods, improved accessibility of resources and shared findings. Research using corpus linguistics, experimental linguistics, and computational modelling has furthered our understanding of language use, acquisition and processing. A combined approach drawing insights from more than one method, including less studied languages, improves the robustness of findings. See the conference webpage for more details (medal.ut.ee/event/final-conference/).

Invited speakers:
Balthasar Bickel (University of Zürich)
Jennifer Culbertson (University of Edinburgh)
Piia Taremaa (University of Tartu)

Timeline:
Abstract submission open: 15 January – 7 March 2025
Decisions on abstracts: 15 April 2025
Registration open: 15 April - 8 September 2025
Conference: 9-10 October 2025
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Organized by the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics at the University of Tartu with the MEDAL Consortium. The MEDAL consortium is funded by the European Union & UKRI (both project number 101079429), led by the University of Tartu (Estonia) in collaboration with Radboud University and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (the Netherlands) and the University of Birmingham (the United Kingdom).