Call for papers

Translation and interpreting (T&I) process studies have traditionally applied methods from psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology to shed light on the processes and behaviors underlying various tasks of mediated communication. Recently, there has been a call for a more holistic approach to the study of T&I (Halverson, 2021; Mellinger, 2023) with the development of socio-cognitive approaches, which primarily borrow methods from sociolinguistics to explore the socio-cognitive processes of translators and interpreters in naturalistic settings (Risku & Rogl, 2021). Researchers have, for instance, investigated the use of technology in the workplace within the framework of extended and distributed cognition (Sannholm & Risku, 2024). This reflects a broader shift in interest towards the multimodal aspects of the T&I process, no longer only in written translation, dialogue interpreting and sign language interpreting (Tiselius & Dimitrova, 2021; De Boe et al., 2024), but now also in hybrid tasks, such as sight interpreting/translation and simultaneous interpreting with text (Chmiel & Lijewska, 2023; Robert et al. 2024). This new line of research inherently places great emphasis on the real-life relevance of empirical findings, raising significant questions about the implications of this research for professional practice and training (Rojo & Muñoz, 2022).

Topics

This conference invites researchers to present their work contributing to the investigation and to a deeper understanding of T&I process research. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, multimodality, (socio-)cognitive processes, and the application of empirical T&I process research.  

More specifically, we welcome papers on the following topics: 

Empirical investigations of the processes involved in T&I as multimodal activities, such as technology-assisted T&I, localization, audiovisual translation, dialogue interpreting, and sign language interpreting;

Empirical explorations of the processes involved in hybrid T&I tasks and settings, such as sight interpreting/translation and simultaneous interpreting with text;

Empirical investigations of critical concepts and constructs, such as cognitive load, default translation, and strategies;

Innovative research methods and analytical lenses to the study of the T&I process, such as socio-cognitive and corpus-based approaches, as well as mixed- or multi-method perspectives;

T&I process research applications in professional practice, in training, etc.

Submission guidelines 

Please send your anonymised abstract (max. 500 words, excluding references) electronically as an attachment in MS Word to tripsconference2026@umons.ac.be by October 15, 2025. Authors are allowed to submit a maximum of two abstracts if at least one of these is co-authored. All abstracts will undergo double-blind peer review. Accepted paper presentations will be allocated 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for discussion. 

References 

Chmiel, A., & Lijewska, A. (2023). Reading patterns, reformulation and eye-voice span (IVS) in sight translation. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 18(2), 213-234.

De Boe, E., Vranjes, J., & Salaets, H. (2024). Interactional dynamics in remote interpreting. New York: Routledge.

Halverson, S. L. (2021). Translation, linguistic commitment and cognition. In F. Alves and A. L. Jakobsen (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Translation and Cognition, (pp. 37–51). New York: Routledge.

Mellinger, C. D. (2023). Embedding, extending, and distributing interpreter cognition with technology. In G. C. Pastor and B. Defrancq (Eds.), Interpreting technologies–current and future trends (pp. 195-216). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.

Robert, I., De Boe, E. & Saxena, P. (2024). Multimodal input and cognition: Using eye tracking in SIMTXT experiments [Conference Presentation]. Linguists’ Day, 11 October 2024, University of Mons.

Rojo, A. M. L., & Muñoz, R. M. (2022). Translation process research. In F. Zanettin & C. Rundle (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Methodology (1st ed., pp. 356–372). Routledge.

Risku, H. & Rogl. R. (2021). Translation and situated, embodied, distributed, embedded and extended cognition. In F. Alves and A.L. Jakobsen (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Cognition (pp. 478–499). New York: Routledge.

Sannholm, R., & Risku, H. (2024). Situated minds and distributed systems in translation: Exploring the conceptual and empirical implications. Target, 36(2), 159-183.

Tiselius, E., & Dimitrova, B. E. (2021). Turn-taking in dialogue interpreting: Coping with cognitive constraints. Cognitive Linguistic Studies, 8(2), 328-355.