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Professor Lorraine Leeson

Professor in Deaf Studies (C.L.C.S.)

 leesonl@tcd.ie

 

Professor in Deaf Studies (Centre for Deaf Studies)


Biography

I am Professor in Deaf Studies at the Centre for Deaf Studies, and Associate Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (2021-), previously serving as Associate Dean of Research (2018-2021). My research work is multidisciplinary, influenced by my background in Deaf Studies, Gender Studies and Linguistics. I have published widely on aspects of the linguistics and applied linguistics of signed languages with a specific interest in Irish Sign Language and in the area of sign language interpreting. My doctoral work was the first to examine aspects of the morphosyntax of Irish Sign Language, and subsequent to this, I have published and lectured widely on aspects of the grammar of Irish Sign Language, and in the area of signed language/spoken language interpreting. I was a member of the first cohort of professionally trained Irish Sign Language/English interpreters in Ireland, is a member of the Register of Irish Sign Language Interpreters (RISLI) and continues to interpret occasionally. I have engaged in pan-European research work with academic institutions, Deaf communities and interpreting organisations for over two decades. I am currently working on a number of projects including: *DeafSigns - Unlocking Educational Opportunities in Sign Languages in Europe. DeafSign is a European Centre for Modern Languages (Council of Europe) funded project which seeks to establish guidelines, recommendations and practical resources to promote quality standards for the provision of learning opportunities for vulnerable learners, particularly deaf & hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and their parents, caregivers and family members, heritage signers and DHH refugees and migrants with linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds in Europe who have no access to sign language education. (2024-27) *Deaf Women and Maternity Care in Ireland (2024). Funded by Reach Deaf Services, this project is led by the School of Nursing and Midwifery, TCD (Prof Deirdre Daly and Dr Grainne Meehan) and the Centre for Deaf Studies (Prof Lorraine Leeson and Teresa Lynch). The project aims to document the experiences of Irish deaf women vis-a-vis maternity care, and feed learning from this study into Irish maternity care services. *Conceptualisation in Interpretation (ongoing). Working with Prof Terry Janzen (University of Manitoba) and Prof Barbara Shaffer (University of New Mexico) on a project that explores how experienced spoken and signed language interpreters conceptualise and represent the words and gestures of source language speakers when working into a wide range of languages. Taking cognitive linguistic and gesture studies informed approaches to our work, we also look at how signers and speakers' conceptualise events, and in particular, the use of gesture space in representing these concepts. *EDI in Higher Education in Ireland (2023-4). Funded by the Higher Education Authority's Gender Equality Enhancement Fund, this project is led by Prof Lorraine McIlrath (Mary Immaculate College) with Dr Helen Maher (University of Galway), Dr Marie Connolly (University of Limerick) and Prof Lorraine Leeson (Trinity College Dublin). The project brought together some 50 academics and practitioners working in Irish HEIs on equality, diversity and inclusion related themes and culminates in an open access volume to be published by Palgrave in late 2024.

Research Tags

  Bilingual/Bicultural Education   cognitive linguistics   Deaf Studies   gesture   interpreting studies   Irish Sign Language   Language acquisition   Language Policy   modality and language   Morpho-syntax of signed languages   Signed Languages   Teaching and learning

Research Projects

 DeafSign: Unlocking Educational Opportunities in Sign Languages for Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing and Heritage Signers in Europe
 SIGN - making maternity experiences positive for deaf women
 TORCH -Transforming Open Responsible Research and Innovation through CHARM
 Deaf Interpreter Training Programme
 Silent Harm: Empowering Deaf Women Surviving Domestic Violence Post-Covid in Rural Areas.

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Representations

Details Date
Member of RISLI Registration Panel (Register of Irish Sign Language Interpreters) 2020
European Centre for Modern Languages Expert on Sign Languages 2013-
Member of the Royal Irish Academy Multidisciplinary Committee on Languages, Literature, Culture and Communication 2018
Member of Science Foundation Ireland/ Research Ireland's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group 2024
Member of the IUA VP-Research Group (as Associate Dean of Research) 2020
Member of the National Forum on Research Integrity 2018
Member of the LERU Research Integrity Policy Group 2018
Member of the Higher Education Authority's National Committee on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 2021
Member of the Dublin City Centre Rejuvenation Working Group 2024
Member of the LERU Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Group and Steering Committee 2021
Member of the IUA VP-EDI Group 2021
ARTIS Associate (Advancing Research in Translation and interpreting Studies). 2014-present
Founder Member of the Irish Deaf Research Network (IDRN) 2008- present
Advisor - Deaf Studies Trust, Bristol 2013 - present
Chair of the European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters Expert Group 2012-2019
Member of the Trinity Asian Centre for Asian Studies Board 2015-2018
Board Member - Sign Language Interpreting Service (SLIS) 2011 - 2013
Member of the Royal Irish Academy Modern Languages Committee 2010-2013
Member of the Partnership Group on Deaf Education (CIDP-IDS-DeafHear-Schools for the Deaf-CDS) 2007-2013
Editor of "The Sign Language Translator and Interpreter", St. Jerome Publishing. 2007-2011
Director - Dublin City Radio (DCR) 2008- 2010
Member of the Editorial Board, Deaf Worlds: International Journal of Deaf Studies 2001-2008
Member of the Irish Sign Link ISL/English Acccreditation Review Panel 2004-2006

Languages

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
American Sign Language Medium Medium Medium
British Sign Language Medium Medium Medium
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Medium Basic Basic
Irish Basic Basic Basic
Irish Sign Language Fluent Fluent Fluent

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
Irish Association of Applied Linguistics (IRAAL) 1994 present
International Cognitive Linguistics Association 2004 present
Irish Association of Sign Language Interpreters (IASLI) (disbanded in 2008) 1993 2008
Irish Translators and Interpreters Association (ITIA)
Register of Irish Sign Language Interpreters 2020 present
Irish Deaf Research Network 2008 present
Conference of Interpreter Trainers (CIT) 2008 present
International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) 2010 present
European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters 2010 Present
Council of Irish Sign Language Interpreters (CISLI) 2011 Present
International Pragmatics Association 2017 2018
Societas Linguistica Europea 2020 2022
Association for Criminal Justice Research & Development (ACJRD) 2016 present
International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS) 2014
Sign Language Interpreting in Ireland in, editor(s)Stacey Webb, Jemina Napier, and Robert Adam , Sign language translation and interpreting education two decades on, Washington DC, Gallaudet University Press, 2025, pp265 - 298, [Sarah Sheridan, Teresa Lynch, and Lorraine Leeson], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text
Andy Way, Lorraine Leeson and Dimitar Shterionov (eds.), Sign Language and Machine Translation, Cham, Switzerland, Springer Nature, 2024, Book, PUBLISHED  URL
McIlrath, Lorraine, Marie Connolly, Helen Maher and Lorraine Leeson, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education in Ireland., First, Cham, Switzerland, Springer Nature, 2024, Book, IN_PRESS  URL
Sign Languages in Britain and Ireland in, editor(s)Fox, Sue , Language in Britain and Ireland, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2024, pp439-452 , [Schembri, Adam; Rowley, Kate; Leeson, Lorraine], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text
How it Started and How it's Going: Sign-Language Machine Translation and Engagement with Deaf Communities over the past 25 years. in, editor(s)Andy Way Lorraine Leeson Dimitar Shterionov , Sign Language Machine Translation, Cham, Switzerland, Springer, 2024, [Leeson, L., Morissey, S., Stein, D., Shterionov, D., Van den Heuvel, H. & A. Way], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  URL
The Pipeline of Machine Translation in, editor(s)Dimitar Shterionov Andy Way Lorraine Leeson , Sign Language Machine Translation, Cham, Switzerland, Springer, 2024, [Shterionov, Dimitar, Lorraine Leeson and Andy Way], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  URL  URL
Transforming the EDI Agenda: Including Disability as an Intersectional Consideration in, editor(s)McIlrath, Lorraine, Marie Connolly, Helen Maher and Lorraine Leeson , Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education in Ireland., Cham, Switzerland, Springer Nature, 2024, [Rath, Vivian, Patricia McCarthy, David Loughrey and Lorraine Leeson], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS
Terry Janzen, Lorraine Leeson, Barbara Shaffer, Simultaneous interpreters" gestures as a window on conceptual alignment, PARALLÈLES, 2024, Journal Article, IN_PRESS
Napier, Jemina, Lucy Clark, Lorraine Leeson and Lianne Quigley, I faced so many barriers: Access to support for deaf female survivors of domestic violence in the UK, Just. Journal of Language Rights and Minorities, 3, (1), 2024, Notes: [https://doi.org/10.7203/Just.3.27933], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL  URL  URL
Cabeza-Pereiro, Carmen; Casado-Neira; David, Conway, Brian; Clark, Lucy; Del-Pozo-Trivinõ, Maribel; Flanagan, John; Freir, Caitriona; Garahan, Lucy; Leeson, Lorraine; Longa-Alsono, Beatriz; Napier, Jemina; O"Dowd, Leonie; Pérez-Freire, Silvia; Quigley, Lianne; and Sheikh, Haaris, Silent Harm: A training manual for service providers and interpreters who work with deaf, refugee, and migrant women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence, 1, Dublin, Interesource Group Ireland Limited, 2023, Book, PUBLISHED  URL
  

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Myriam Vermeerbergen and Lorraine Leeson , Introducing signed languages: simultaneity, multimodality & other characteristics, SignON Consortium Internal Symposium, Online , 28 March , 2022, Lien Soetemans, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Interview with Ciara Plunkett 14 January 2021, 'Kildare Focus', KFM Radio, 2021, -, Broadcast, PUBLISHED
Lorraine Leeson, 'How sign language interpreters tell the story of what's going on', RTE Brainstorm, 13 January 2021, https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0113/1189418-irish-sign-language-interpreters-covid-19-late-late-toy-show/, RTE , 2021, -, Broadcast, PUBLISHED
Lorraine Leeson, Variation in Irish Sign Language, Variation in Irish Sign Language, University of Manitoba , 25 February 2021, 2021, Terry Janzen, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Aoife King (ed), Rita Duffy, Caitríona Lally, Jacob J. Erickson, Donna Lyons et al., What the Pandemic Means: Perspectives from the Trinity Long Room Hub Covid-19 Blog Collection, 2021, - 1-56, Notes: [Artwork: Rita Duffy], Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Nina Shiel and Lorraine Leeson, Towards an Integrated Approach to RRI: Lessons from Interdisciplinarity, LERU-CE7 Research Ethics Online Seminar, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University , 22 April 2021, 2021, Oral Presentation, PRESENTED
Jennifer Daly and Lorraine Leeson, 'What do you want to know.... about sign languages?', What do you want to know about?, Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, 2020, -, Broadcast, PUBLISHED
Lorraine Leeson and Carmel Grehan, The Common European Framework of Reference and Signed Language Curricula, ISL Academy Workshop, Deaf Village Ireland, Dublin, 27 January 2018, 2018, Irish Sign Language Academy, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Lorraine Leeson, Haaris Sheikh and Council for Irish Sign Language Interpreters, Interpreting in Workplace Settings, 22 April 2018, In:Interpreting in Workplace Settings, 2018, Centre for Deaf Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Meetings /Conferences Organised, PRESENTED
Carmel Grehan and Lorraine Leeson, European Language Portfolio for Sign Languages (ELP-SL), ISL Academy Workshop, Deaf Village Ireland , 16 June 2018, 2018, Oral Presentation, PRESENTED

  

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Awards and Honours

Award Date
NRB Scholarship 1996
British Academy Fellowship 2004
European Commission Language Ambassador of the Year Award 2009
Fellowship, TCD 2009
M.A. (J.O.) TCD 2011
European Language Label Award for Medisigns Project (LLP/LdV/TOI/2010/IRL-511) 2013
Conferred with Honorary Membership of the Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association 2014
Patron - Irish Deaf Women's Group 2015
Nominated for Provost's Global Award 2014-15
Kerry Deaf Resource Centre Outstanding Contribution Award 2016
European Language Label Award for Justisigns Project 2017
Trinity College Dublin Innovation Award - Consultancy 2021
Research Excellence Award - 'Putting Research at the Heart of Trinity' category 2023
Science Foundation Ireland Engaged Research Award (SignON project) 2023
Honorary Professor - Heriot Watt University School of Social Sciences 2017
An Garda Síochána Award in recognition of contributions to their Human Rights Champions Programme/working in collaboration with An Garda Síochána to increase accessibility to police services for deaf signers. 2022
Led submission for successful European Commission Sustainable Gender Equality Award for Trinity College Dublin 2023
Led submission for successful Institutional Silver Athena Swan Award for Trinity College Dublin 2023
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Engaged Research Award for SignON project 2023
SignON project shortlisted for TechExcellence Awards in three categories - Tech Excellence Award; Digital Transformation Award; and Analytics Institute awards 2024
The Analytics Institute Analytics and AI Awards: Social Impact Award for SignOn project 2024
Nominated for Excellence in Research Student Supervision Award 2023 2023

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

My research spans 3 domains: (1) linguistics & applied linguistics of sign languages (SLs), (2) interpreting studies (IS), & (3) trans-disciplinary work. As a student, I found just one paper published on Irish Sign Language (ISL) & very little empirical work on sign language interpreting (SLI) or sign language teaching & learning (SLT&L). I've dedicated my career to changing this by promoting a culture of empirical research, documenting & interrogating aspects of ISL & interpretation. I am particularly adept at navigating the space between linguistic research and applied practices. At European level, I've done a great deal of ground work that has supported increased recognition & inclusion of signed languages. My work has directly influenced the establishment of core competencies for European SLIs & SL teachers. I am a European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML)/Council of Europe (COE) expert on SLs, & have examined aspects of the T&L and assessment of SLs for professional purposes (PRO-Sign 1 & 2). This underpinned a critical body of pan-European empirical research, led to a series of international conferences, & inclusion of SLs as a focus for ECML"s work. I served as a consultant to the COE on the development of the modality inclusive Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Companion Volume (2020), which, for the 1st time, presents descriptors of competence for both spoken and signed languages. This segues with research on SL policy in Europe, theorising how adult learners navigate the process & how SL teachers respond to learners. A current COE/ECML project, "DeafSign" seeks to ensure national policy makers consider the linguistic needs of deaf migrants, refugees, heritage signers & their families. I am frequently invited to advise NGOs, universities and governmental bodies at home and around the world on issues relating to my domains of expertise.My linguistics work includes analyses of the role of gesture, metaphor, metonymy, simultaneity, & depiction in SLs. Much of my ISL data comes from the "Signs of Ireland" corpus, which I spearheaded. This has facilitated significant description of aspects of ISL by myself and other scholars. My IS research explores provision of interpreters in a range of domains. A current project marries work from cognitive linguistics, gesture studies and IS (with Janzen & Shaffer), investigating how simultaneous interpreters of spoken & signed languages conceptualise events. At Trinity, I've led development of a cohort of researchers working with Grounded Theory (GT) methodologies & developed a GT of interpreting interaction, Effortful Engagement, which has fed follow-on work. This theory considers the work required of all stakeholders in interpreted interaction (most look only at the interpreter"s cognitive efforts). I have been invited to present keynote addresses on this around the world. Other multidisciplinary work includes a focus on gender based violence (Justisigns 2), maternity care, & machine translation for sign languages (MTSL) " e.g., the multi-award winning SignON project (Horizon 2020) sought to develop MTSL for multiple spoken & signed languages. MTSL is decades behind that of most spoken languages. I led the consortium"s ethics work package & was central to embedding a deep commitment to co-construction with deaf communities across the project. My work has fed into work leading to the legal recognition of ISL (ISL Act 2017) & the development of the Register of Irish Sign Language Interpreters (RISLI).