Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences is encouraging anyone with an interest in the politics of translation to register for its Seventh Annual International Translation Conference. The event, scheduled for 28-29 March 2016 at Qatar National Convention Centre, aims to create a Gulf-based platform for discussing issues related to translation.

Details have been released outlining the workshops, panels, seminars, and keynote addresses for the conference. The conference this year features a series of talks offered by elite experts in two sessions; an opening and a closing session.

Dima Khatib, who is a journalist, writer and translator and currently the Managing Director of AJ+, Al Jazeera’s multi-lingual online digital channel, will present a talk titled Challenges in the Digital World. Dima’s journalistic career has led her to work in over 30 countries, from where she’s reported on a wide range of world events. Dima has been classified among the most influential Arab women on social media since 2011.

Another speech titled Giving Voice to Arab Events: Communication, Politics and Relative Truths will be delivered by Shiekh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, a United Arab Emirates-based columnist whose articles have appeared in The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and The New York Times. In 2014, Arabian Business magazine placed Al Qassemi in its list of World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs under the “Thinkers” category.

Dr. Aline Remael, who is the Chair of Department, Head of Research, and Professor of Translation Theory, Interpreting and Audiovisual Translation at the Department of Applied Linguistics/Translators and Interpreters at the University of Antwerp, will offer a keynote address titled Audiovisual Translation as a Tool for Empowerment. Her main research interests are audiovisual translation, media accessibility and new hybrid forms of interpreting that have affinities with AVT.

The conference will also feature Dr. Henri Awaiss, Dean of the Faculty of Languages of Saint Joseph University –Beirut, whose talk is entitled Dichotomies in Translation Studies. His presentation contributes to thinking, from a translation point of view, about a series of dichotomies such as translation and language, translation studies and linguistics, the industry of writing and the industry of translation, source and target authors, faithfulness and betrayal, the writer and the translator, the author and the translator, and the translator and the interpreter.

Conference attendees will benefit from a variety of seminar choices, including “TranslationQ and RevisionQ”, in which Dr. Dirk Verbeke will talk about how technology can help translation evaluation be more objective and more efficient. Additionally, three workshops held at the conference will focus on professional translation, revision and quality assurance, and the teaching of writing in Arabic.

From the 107 abstracts the college received, 32 abstracts were selected and panelists will be attending from Egypt, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, China, Iran, Turkey, Belgium, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Canada and the United States. The main academic contributors to the conference are University of Leuven, Beijing Foreign Studies University, University of Glasgow, University of Geneva, Lebanese University, University of Ottawa, Georgetown University, and Pablo de Olavide University.

Dr. Amal Al-Malki, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, notes: “The theme of this conference ‘Politics of Translation: Representations and Power’ is yet more proof that the field of translation is interdisciplinary by nature. The conference brings under one roof Arab and international scholars, opinion writers, media personalities, political commentators and professionals from different backgrounds within humanities and social sciences. The conference touches on the areas of power and representations across critical areas such as interpreting in conflict zones, challenges in the digital world”, “citizen media”, and “political translation”, and many other topics in which the interplay between language and culture play a major role.”

In order to make the conference accessible to all interested parties, any keynote addresses, panels, and seminars are open to the public free of charge, with a reduced registration fee required to take part in the specialized workshops. As space is limited, interested individuals are strongly encouraged to register early at http://www.tii.qa/conference.