This year, four new scholars have joined the SAB, which is the first addition to the board since the establishment of MultiLing in 2013. The four new board members are Professor Lynn Mario T. Menezes de Souza from the University of São Paulo, Professor Lorenza Mondada from the University of Basel, Professor Sari Pietikäinen from the University of Jyväskylä, and Associate Professor Pia Quist from the University of Copenhagen. We are very happy and excited to welcome them to the SAB and MultiLing.
On Thursday May 2, the first part of the meeting was held at MultiLing, where the Center Director and the Deputy Director presented the Center’s achievements since the last SAB meeting. In addition to highlights of 2018, the introductory presentations covered the Center’s plans for the coming years, such as future hirings and the development of an international Master’s program.
One of the highlights in 2018 was the opening of MultiLing’s Socio-Cognitive Laboratory at Blindern campus. The SAB received a tour of the laboratory and demonstration of its equipment, and the board members showed great interest in the possibilities the laboratory provides.
After the introductory presentations and laboratory tour, the rest of the meeting was held at Professorboligen in Oslo city centre. Professor Andreas Føllesdal gave an engaging and thought-provoking presentation of the process of applying for ERC grants, and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Olga Solovova talked about her personal experience with applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions grant (MSCA). The presentations were followed by Q&As and group sessions where grant application processes and strategies were thoroughly discussed. Some key topics in the discussions were interdisciplinarity and the interests and focus points of the ERC and MSCA panels.
The first day ended with a splendid dinner at beautiful Nedre Foss Gård. The MultiLing team members mingled with the SAB members, the Head of the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies and the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.
On Friday, we reconvened for further discussions related to career planning, collaborative work and publications. The final group sessions were dedicated to discussions within the research groups and exchanging ideas and feedback, drawing on the expertise of the SAB members.
SAB members and Research Professors attending the meeting:
- Peter Auer
- Kees the Bot
- Marianne Gullberg
- Li Wei
- Lorenza Mondada
- Loraine Obler
- Aneta Pavlenko
- Alastair Pennycook
- Sari Pietikäinen
- Pia Quist
- Elana Shohamy
- Lynn Mario T. Menezes de Souza
- Chris Stroud
- Brendan Weekes