A PhD for nothing?

Promoting data and research results in linguistics beyond academia

The LangaJE interuniversity team, affiliated with the Centre de recherche en linguistique appliquée (CeRLA – Université Lumière Lyon 2) and the Centre d'Études Linguistiques – Corpus, Discours et Sociétés (CEL – Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3), are pleased to announce the launch of a conference dedicated to junior researchers in linguistics, translation studies, and foreign language teaching on the following theme: “A PhD for nothing? Promoting data and research results in linguistics beyond academia”. The conference will be held on November 18^th, 2022, in Lyon. We will have the honour to welcome Laélia Véron, lecturer at the University of Orléans and columnist for France Inter, as our keynote speaker.

Research is often a solitary endeavour; yet it implies sharing data and research results to peers. However, promoting research results can also be intended for a wider audience, beyond academia, using tools and making knowledge available to all. This particular aspect will be in the limelight of the conference, since research is also about developing skills to promote one’s results in order to share them with a wider audience. In that respect, Luc Allemand wrote: "Popularisation [...] constitutes a preliminary stage, almost indispensable, to any kind of promotion. For knowledge earned through research to be given economic or societal value, it is important that the actors in the economic and social world be informed" (2016, 250). 

Research promotion inevitably leads junior researchers stepping into the field of academia to wonder about the availability and transparency of their data and results, and consequently about the way in which applied research can be shared and used widely.

The LangaJE 2022 conference wishes to bring together PhD students and junior scholars (Viva at the earliest in 2020) in linguistics, translation studies, language teaching, within the perspective of open science, so as to reflect upon the promotion of research results beyond university: open science and applied research. This conference aims to offer a place for collective reflection on how society can benefit from linguistic research, taking into account the general public, experts and professionals from various fields.

Papers will address one of the following topics:

 1) Open science, aimed at the general public, can encompass political issues (debates, speeches, etc.) and societal issues (educational, cultural, informational, etc.). Open science can take different forms: a humorous linguistic column on the radio (L. Véron, France Inter), a book for the general public (C. Benzitoun, Qui veut la peau du français ?, 2021), or a smartphone application (M. Avanzi et al, 2021, "Français de nos régions"). Papers may address methodological issues (How to popularise, to make it available to all? By which means (technical, linguistic)? etc.) and societal issues (What are the impact(s) on society? What does "promoting one’s results" mean? etc.).

2) Applied research concerns, among others, experts and professionals, and can take many forms (toolboxes, software, databases, pedagogical methods, etc.). In some cases, it reflects the explicit purpose of one’s PhD work (E. Giraudier, thesis in progress; H. Dyche, thesis in progress), but it can also be a practical implementation of theoretical research (F.-R. Chaumartin, Proxem). Papers may address methodological issues, technical issues (How to create a tool? For what purpose? What kind of tool to propose? etc.), or the presentation of a concrete implementation of one’s PhD work.

These two broad topics are not exclusive and papers tackling both are welcome. Moreover, the questions listed are examples and we encourage any other proposal dealing with the idea of promoting research beyond academia.

How to submit your abstract:

Abstracts should be written in Times New Roman, single-spaced, size 12, be no longer than 1 page (selective bibliography included), and should include 5 keywords. Participants are encouraged to present their papers in French (20-minute format). Papers in English will be considered.

Proposals must be submitted directly on the LangaJE 2022 website https://langaje2022.sciencesconf.org in Word format by May 20, 2022. Double-blind peer review is the evaluation process used by the scientific board. Therefore, any identifying elements should be removed from your abstract.

At the end of the conference, the speakers will be invited to prepare a short communication dedicated to the general public in the form of an article or a podcast. The modalities will be specified later.

Deadlines:

• 18/02/2022: opening of the call for papers
• 20/05/2022: deadline for submission of abstracts
• June 2022: notification of acceptance
• 18 November 2022: conference