It was a real privilege to welcome such an excellent group of invited speakers and participants to Lancaster on June 16, 2018. Wonderful discussions on the future of higher education, science, public policy, and multidisciplinarity. A weekend well-spent at Luso 2018.

PARSUK Conference

Here is a nice summary of Luso2018 on Lancaster’s website. Thanks to Anne Rothwell from our Press Office for putting together the news item. You can read the original item here.

Call to action for scientists at LUSO 2018

A call for scientists to get more involved in the development of education and research policies was made by the Portuguese Minister of Education at Lancaster University this month.

The call came during LUSO 2018, the annual meeting of the Portuguese Association of Researchers and Students in the UK.

The Minister, Dr Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, stressed that the non-participation of scientists left the space open to others less knowledgeable about those topics and, sometimes, with their own agendas.

He spoke during the one-day conference at a panel event with Dr Mike Galsworthy from Scientists for EU and Professor Robert Geyer, the Lancaster University Academic Director (International).

Dr Galsworthy said that, despite adverse events felt from the Brexit decision, one positive result was that there was more interest about science in all sectors from the British Government. He said citizens too were today more aware about the role of science in shaping industrial policy and investments.

Professor Geyer mentioned the role that researchers and academics could play in shaping public policies that helped citizens trust public services. Further to that, he added that public policies played an important role in current democracies.

The event, which attracted interest from the Portuguese media, was attended by 60 delegates and other special guests including the Portuguese Ambassador in the UK Mr Manuel Lobo Antunes and the UK’s Ambassador to Portugal Kirsty Hayes.

The press release for LUSO2018 is now available on the Lancaster University website. Amazing opportunity to discuss challenges in higher education with a great group of speakers and colleagues. Join us on Saturday, June 16, registration closes on June 12.

LUSO 2018 provides unique opportunity to tackle HE challenges

June 6, 2018 – click here to read the text on the Lancaster University website

Just spotted that four of the articles published in our special issue on experimental, corpus-based and computational approaches to language learning are among the prestigious “Best of 2017: Most-Cited” and “Best of 2017: Most-Read” lists of Language Learning! Congrats to our authors Vaclav Brezina, Markus Dickinson, Dana Gablasvoa, Tony McEnery, Detmar Meurers, Padraic Monaghan, and Caroline Rowland.

Putting together special issues is a ton of (unpaid) work that counts for little in terms of promotion, but seeing the fact that other researchers find the special issue interesting is a great reward!

You can access the special issue here. Our editors’ introduction is available online (open access), please click here to read the introduction.

We were thrilled to host Prof Susana Correia from NOVA University in Lisbon for a week at Lancaster University. Susana presented a current research project that seeks to develop and validate a new placement test for Portuguese as a Foreign Language. Thanks again to Lancaster’s excellent Language Testing Research Group for hosting the event.

The visit resulted in very productive discussions on current and future initiatives of the Heritage Language Consortium.

Universidade britânica é palco de combate a estereótipos sobre ciência para jovens portugueses

Follow link to access the article on the Diário de Notícias website.

Uma Organização não-governamental e a universidade britânica de Lancaster juntam-se em maio para ensinar a portugueses que a ciência é também uma oportunidade de carreira combatendo os estereótipos que são mais evidentes entre os imigrantes.

O estereótipo de que os cientistas são sobretudo “homens super inteligentes de classe média-alta” deve ser combatido junto dos adolescentes portugueses para os encorajar a seguir carreiras em ciências, tecnologias, engenharia e matemática (CTEM), defende a investigadora Joana Moscoso.

A bióloga é cofundadora da organização sem fins lucrativos Native Scientist, que se associou-se à Universidade de Lancaster, no noroeste de Inglaterra, para promover uma série de oficinas em língua portuguesa para jovens entre os 12 e 15 anos intitulada “Native Explorers”, no dia 12 de maio.

De acordo com Moscoso, os estudantes migrantes são duas vezes mais propensos a ter um desempenho inferior em ciência e matemática do que o resto dos colegas, acabando por rejeitar uma carreira em CTEM e por não frequentar o ensino superior.

No caso da comunidade tradicional de emigrantes portugueses, a experiência que retirou do trabalho com crianças do ensino primário ao longo de cinco anos é que é frequente a falta de incentivo a carreiras científicas.

“Há um estereótipo de que a ciência é só para um certo tipo de pessoas – homens super inteligentes de classe média-alta. Há também uma grande falta de conhecimento sobre o que é, de facto, ser cientista. Isso faz com que muitas pessoas não considerem uma carreira nessa área”, disse à agência Lusa.

As oficinas vão tentar atrair adolescentes de origem portuguesa e dar-lhes uma experiência na universidade, onde terão oportunidade de contactar com investigadores em áreas como engenharia química, biologia, astrofísica ou empreendedorismo.

“Uma grande proporção de crianças decide que a ciência ‘não é para mim’ até aos 12 anos. Enquanto que a maioria das atividades da Native Scientist são para crianças com menos de 12 anos, trabalhar com adolescentes é importante na medida em que os pode ajudar a reavivar o fascínio pela ciência e promover uma atitude de ‘eu posso ser cientista se eu quiser’, vincou Moscoso.

Na véspera, a 11 de maio, a universidade de Lancaster realiza um evento chamado “Outreach without Borders” [Divulgação sem Fronteiras], direcionado sobretudo a académicos, profissionais ou empreendedores sociais, onde serão discutidos desafios e oportunidades para a comunicação da ciência junto do público em geral.

Joana Moscoso refere como esta actividade tem evoluído nas últimas décadas, e que, para além das visitas de estudo a museus e documentários televisivos sobre a vida animal, existem agora eventos como festivais de ciência ou a deslocação dos próprios cientistas às escolas.

“Neste evento vamos falar das últimas tendências neste campo, que são o desenvolvimento de atividades de comunicação de ciência viradas para um pública-alvo muito específico a fim de promover a inclusão e diversidade. Vamos apresentar projetos como a Native Scientist, para crianças imigrantes ou o Sex & Bugs & Rock N Roll, para apaixonados da música”, revelou.

A Universidade de Lancaster é considerada uma das dez melhores universidades do Reino Unido, onde 35% dos estudantes são internacionais, provenientes de mais de 122 países.

Vários dos seus docentes são também estrangeiros, como os portugueses Nuno Bimbo, Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Ricardo Zózimo, que vão promover as oficinas no segundo dia, e Patrick Rebuschat, responsável pelo projeto de colaboração com a Native Scientist.

Segundo este especialista em linguística, este projeto “proporciona aos académicos de Lancaster uma oportunidade importante para refletir sobre a comunicação da ciência e sobre o seu papel no aumento da participação e [uma oportunidade] para partilhar conhecimentos com uma organização única de divulgação científica que inspira crianças e adolescentes migrantes em toda a Europa a estudar disciplinas CTEM e a desenvolver a proficiência nas suas línguas nativas”.

Below follows the official English press release for the Native Explorers event, which promotes STEM and multilingualism in migrant children. Proud to be leading on behalf of Lancaster University and the Heritage Language Consortium and to be collaborating with the Native Scientist project and the Camões Institute on this important initiative.

To access the published release on the Lancaster University website, please click this link. (Thanks to Anne Rothwell from LU’s Press Office.)

New project will promote STEM subjects and multilingualism

A new project will promote innovative outreach initiatives among academics as well as encouraging Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) education and careers among migrant communities in the UK.

May 11 will see the launch of Native Explorers at Lancaster University.

The event is a joint initiative by Lancaster University and Native Scientist, an award-winning non-profit organisation that promotes diversity in STEM and tackles educational disadvantage by bringing together scientists and pupils who speak a common heritage language (the language spoken at home).

Dr Patrick Rebuschat, who leads the project at Lancaster University, explained: “The joint initiative with Native Scientist provides Lancaster academics and professional services staff with an important opportunity to reflect on science outreach and on its role in widening participation, and to share expertise with a unique science outreach organisation that inspires immigrant children and young people across Europe to pursue STEM subjects and to develop proficiency in their heritage languages.”

The initiative is part of the new Heritage Language Consortium, a strategic partnership between six European universities, including Lancaster, and the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Native Explorers takes place on two days, and each day has a different purpose.

The first day is mainly aimed at academics, professional services, science communicators and social entrepreneurs. It consists of a symposium on ‘Outreach Without Borders’, during which challenges and opportunities in science outreach and widening participation will be discussed. It will feature presentations on innovative science outreach initiatives for children, young people and adults who are based in the UK or abroad.

The second day is aimed at young people between 12 and 15 years old and consists of a series of four science workshops, delivered by leading Lancaster University researchers.

The workshops are offered in Portuguese, an important heritage language in the UK as it is the second most spoken European language in UK schools. The workshops will provide an opportunity to learn concepts from four different fields: Astrophysics, chemical engineering, plant biology and social entrepreneurship. They will target Portuguese-speaking students who live in the Greater Manchester and Lancashire regions.

As Dr Joana Moscoso, the co-founder of Native Scientist, said: “Migrant students are twice as likely to underperform in science and maths than the rest. They are also more likely to rule out higher education and think that a STEM career is not a real and viable option for them. With this project, we want to do two things. Firstly, we want to raise awareness about the impact that good and innovative science outreach projects can have. Secondly, we want to lead by example and give the opportunity to 40 Portuguese migrant adolescents to experience university for the first time in their lives, following the steps of people alike who succeeded in becoming a scientist and are now leading researchers at Lancaster University.”

Both events, funded and supported by Lancaster University’s Widening Participation programme, are free but registration is required. For more information, please visit our website or contact Dr Patrick Rebuschat and Dr Joana Moscoso via native-explorers@lancaster.ac.uk.

We are pleased to announce that Lancaster University and Native Scientist launch their first joint initiative on March 1, 2018. Named Native Explorers, the project aims at promoting innovative outreach initiatives among academics as well as encouraging STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education and careers among immigrant communities in the UK.

Lancaster University is one of the 10 top UK universities. Located in North West England, it prides itself for providing inspiring teaching and research, and 35% of their students are international, coming from over 122 countries. Native Scientist is a non-profit award-winning organisation that promotes diversity in STEM and tackles educational disadvantage by bringing together scientists and pupils who speak a common heritage language.

Dr Patrick Rebuschat, who is leading the project for Lancaster University, explained: “The joint initiative with Native Scientist provides Lancaster academics and professional services staff with an important opportunity to reflect on science outreach and on its role in widening participation, and to share expertise with a unique science outreach organzation that inspires immigrant children and adolescents across Europe to pursue STEM subjects and to develop proficiency in their heritage languages.” The initiative is part of the new Heritage Language Consortium, a strategic partnership between six European universities and the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Two purposes, two days

Native Explorers takes place on two days, and each day has a different purpose. The first day is mainly aimed at academics, professional services, science communicators and social entrepreneurs. It consists of a sympsium on Outreach Without Borders, during which we will discuss challenges and opportunities in science outreach and widening participation. It will feature presentations on innovative science outreach initiatives for children, adolescents and adults that are based in the UK or abroad. It will be live streamed so people in the field not able to travel to the event will be able to join.

The second day is aimed at adolescents between 12 and 15 years old and consists of a series of four science workshops, delivered by leading Lancaster University researchers. The workshops are offered in Portuguese, an important heritage language in the UK, and provide an opportunity to learn concepts from four different fields: Astrophysics, chemical engineering, plant biology and social entrepreneurship. It targets Portuguese-speaking students who live in the Greater Manchester and Lancashire region and bus transportation from Manchester to Lancaster will be provided.

Reaching beyond the already reached

As Dr Joana Moscoso, co-founder of Native Scientist, observed “migrant students are twice as likely to underperform in science and maths than the rest. They are also more likely to rule out higher education and think that a STEM career is not a real and viable option for them. With this project, we want to do two things. Firstly, we want to raise awareness about the impact that good and innovative science outreach projects can have. Secondly, we want to lead by example and give the opportunity to 40 Portuguese migrant adolescents to experience university for the first time in their lives, following the steps of people alike who succeeded in becoming a scientist and are now leading researchers at Lancaster University.”

• To register for the Symposium (11th May), please follow this link.
• To register for the Workshops (12th May), please follow this link.
• Both events are free but registration is required.

For more information, please contact Patrick Rebuschat or Joana Moscoso at native-explorers@lancaster.ac.uk.

A press release announcing the creation of the new Heritage Language Consortium just went online. Many thanks for Anne Rothwell at Lancaster’s Press Office for putting this together.

The Heritage Language Consortium, a strategic partnership for the study of heritage languages in Europe, involves six leading universities in the UK, Germany and Portugal, as well as the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed at a ceremony in Lisbon to officially launch the Consortium. The launch event featured statements by the Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities, Dr José Luís Carneiro, by the Secretary of State for Education, Professor João Costa, by the President of the Camões Institute, Ambassador Luís Faro Ramos, and by the Consortium’s Director, Dr Patrick Rebuschat, from Lancaster University’s Department of Linguistics and English Language.

Portugal maintains a heritage language network across 85 countries for the families of Portuguese citizens, the world over. This enables children to improve their heritage language with qualified teachers who go into schools to run approved language programmes funded by the Portuguese government.

The new Heritage Language Consortium gives researchers from many disciplines – linguistics, education, psychology, and computer science – access to more than  130,000 learners worldwide to investigate language development from many different aspects. At Lancaster, the Department of Linguistics and English Language and the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS) will play a central role.

The Consortium Director, Dr Patrick Rebuschat, said: “This strategic partnership provides us with a unique opportunity – no other country maintains such a significant heritage language network overseas, and we will have privileged access to substantial, yet completely unexplored data.

“The Consortium is a major international initiative which uses Portuguese as a ‘test case’. The insights gained from this project will be applicable to other languages, of course. Our research will help us understand how children and adults learn new languages and identify those factors that make some of us particularly good language learners. We can then use these insights to improve language teaching.

“The Consortium will also organize impact and outreach initiatives to engage with parents, teachers, and policy makers across Europe.”

Professor Steve Bradley, Lancaster University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International), said: “This important initiative demonstrates again Lancaster’s strong international outlook and our commitment to playing a leading role in research that impacts lives, communities, and educational practices across the globe. The Consortium will provide unique opportunities for Lancaster’s staff and students to be involved in a research area that is of particular significance to Europe today.”

The idea for the consortium was born earlier this year when the Portuguese Secretary of State for Education, Professor João Costa, visited Lancaster University to deliver a keynote at a conference organized by Dr Rebuschat.

The event focused on bilingualism and heritage language education across Europe.

It brought together policy makers from the Portuguese Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education, leading academics, journalists, school teachers and parents to discuss current trends and challenges in heritage language research and education.

Lancaster University is renowned for its research in the language sciences and is currently ranked 19th in the world for linguistics according to the 2017 QS Rankings.

For more information, please visit http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/heritage-language or email Dr Patrick Rebuschat: p.rebuschat@lancaster.ac.uk.

Just returned from Lisbon from the official launch of our new Heritage Language Consortium. The Heritage Language Consortium is a strategic partnership between Lancaster University, the University of Lisbon, the University of Minho, NOVA University Lisbon, the University of Porto, Tübingen University, and Camões: Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Consortium is a direct result of a symposium I organized in April 2017, which featured the Portuguese Secretary of State for Education as our distinguished keynote speaker. The event brought together policy makers, academics, teachers, and parents to discuss challenges and opportunities in heritage language education (event website).

The objective of the Heritage Language Consortium is to promote research on language learning in a variety of settings (from naturalistic development to classroom-based instruction) and across different age groups (children, adolescents and adults). The focus of our research will be on the acquisition of Portuguese in multilingual settings, though the insights gained from Consortium projects will be applicable to other languages.

Our research will help us understand how children and adults learn new languages and identify those factors that make some of us particularly good language learners. We can then use these insights to improve language education. Very proud to serve as Director of this important initiative!

Consortium projects involve leading researchers from a range of disciplines (theoretical linguistics, education, computational linguistics, cognitive psychology, language pedagogy, corpus linguistics, second language research) and a range of methodological approaches. In addition, the Consortium also participates in impact and outreach activities to engage with parents, teachers and policy makers.

For more information on the Heritage Language Consortium, please visit our website.