Keynotes

We are honored to confirm the following keynote speakers for our event.

Thematic session: Conference interpreting practice
Jesus Baigorri Jalon, Prof. Dr.  (ESP) 

Jesus is a former Associate Professor of interpreting at the Translation and Interpreting Department of the University of Salamanca. He holds a PhD in geography and history as well as a PhD in translation studies from that same university. He has worked both as staff interpreter for the United Nations in New York as well as a freelance interpreter. Jesus has authored two monographs (Interpreters and the United Nations: A history, From Paris to Nuremberg: The birth of conference interpreting) and recently co-authored an edited volume (New insights in the history of interpreting) on the history of conference interpreting.

Thematic session: Conference interpreting research
Alexis Hervais Adelman, Prof. Dr. (CHE)

Alexis is head of the Neurolinguistics Division in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich. He began his academic career at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained his doctoral degree in cognitive neuroscience before working extensively on the neuroscience of simultaneous interpreting in order to elucidate the brain mechanisms that underpin interpreters’ ability to carry out their highly challenging multilingual work. He has further examined the consequences of expertise in simultaneous interpretation for the brain. This research has provided new insights into not only simultaneous interpreting, but also the neuroscience of multilingualism. Together with his team he deploys multiple neuroimaging and behavioral methods to investigate the brain networks of extreme language - be it the perception of acoustically challenging speech, or the challenges posed by multilingualism.

Thematic session: Conference interpreter training
Jacolyn Harmer, Prof. (USA)

Jacolyn is professor of conference interpretation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) in California. She graduated from the University of Bradford in the UK before training as a conference interpreter at the EC (now EU) Commission in Brussels, where she began her career, initially as a staff interpreter and then as a freelancer for international institutions and the private market. Jacolyn earned her Diplôme d’Études Approfondies in Interpreter Pedagogy from the University of Geneva School of Translation and Interpretation in 2003 and co-taught with the MAS teaching team for over a decade. She has since designed and contributed to interpreter training programs worldwide. In her teaching, Jacolyn’s priority is to prepare students with the kind of adaptive expertise which will enable them to succeed in a challenging, dynamic interpretation marketplace.