EU-WEBPSI: Developing an EU WEB portal for Webcam Public Service Interpreting to improve access to basic services for third-country nationals

Start date

September 2022

End date

August 2025

About the project

Summary

The EU-WEBPSI project (led by the University of Ghent, Belgium) aims to develop, test and disseminate an innovative European Web portal for information exchange and online collaboration between stakeholders involved in providing and using Webcam Public Service Interpreting (WEBPSI).

Objectives

The project has three main objectives:

Harmonising minimal standards for public service interpreting in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders to guarantee high-quality language support and equal access to basic services for migrants and refugees across Europe;
Facilitating more flexible uses of WEBPSI services at national and European level by means of remote solutions that are optimised for contemporary needs and opportunities;
Increasing the interpreting capacity for languages of lesser diffusion (LLD) to reduce the current imbalance between interpreter supply/demand for these languages across Europe and safeguard better language support for and empowerment of speakers of these languages.

Key Impacts

In line with these objectives, the project aims to produce the following outcomes and outputs:

A harmonised European model for WEBPSI, based on minimum standards of interpreting competence, training and certification in combination with information and learning materials (e-training modules);
An accessible web portal for WEBPSI (repository, training platform, booking tool and video-platform) that can be used across national boundaries;
Training of 60 applicants for international protection and recently recognised refugees as qualified WEBPSIs for LLDs in 8 language combinations, enabling them to interpret across national boundaries.

The expected impact of the is to improve language services for refugees and other migrants, providing them with better access to basic services and resources. By focusing on quality and flexibility, the project will benefit all actors involved in public service interpreting, including service providers, interpreters, and interpreter trainers. Additionally, the inclusion of migrants and refugees as interpreters in the project offers them a path towards professional integration.

Principle Investigator (Surrey)

Professor Sabine Braun

Professor of Translation Studies; Director, Centre for Translation Studies; Co-Director, Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI

s.braun@surrey.ac.uk

Biography

I am a Professor of Translation Studies, Director of the Centre for Translation Studies, and a Co-Director of the Surrey Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence at the University of Surrey in the UK. From 2017 to 2021 I also served as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Surrey.

My research explores the integration and interaction of human and machine in translation and interpreting, for example to improve access to critical information, media content and vital public services such as healthcare and justice for linguistic-minority populations and other groups/people in need of communication support. My overarching interest lies in the notions of fairness, trust, transparency, and quality in relation to technology use in these contexts.

For over 10 years, I have led a programme of research that has involved cross-disciplinary collaboration with academic and non-academic partners to improve access to justice for linguistically diverse populations. Under this programme, I have investigated the use of video links in legal proceedings involving linguistic-minority participants and interpreters from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. I have led several multi-national research projects in this field (AVIDICUS 1-3, 2008-16) while contributing my expertise in video interpreting to other projects in the justice sector (e.g. QUALITAS, 2012-14, Understanding Justice, 2013-16, VEJ Evaluation, 2018-20). I have advised the European Council Working Party on e-Law (e-Justice) and other justice-sector institutions in the UK and internationally on video interpreting in legal proceedings and have developed guidelines which have been reflected in European Council Recommendation 2015/C 250/01 on ‘Promoting the use of and sharing of best practices on cross-border videoconferencing’.

In other projects I have explored the use of videoconferencing and virtual reality to train users of interpreting services in how to communicate effectively through an interpreter IVY, 2011-3; EVIVA, 2014-15, SHIFT, 2015-18).

A further example of my work on accessibility is my research on audio description (video description) for visually impaired people. In the H2020 project MeMAD (2018-21) I have recently investigated the feasibility of (semi-)automating AD to improve access to media content that is not normally covered by human AD (e.g. social media content).

In 2019, the Research Centre I lead was awarded an ‘Expanding Excellence in England (E3)' grant (2019-24) by Research England to expand our research on human-machine integration in translation and interpreting. As part of this, I am currently leading and involved in a number of pilot studies aimed at better human-machine integration in different modalities of translation and interpreting.

The insights from my research have informed my teaching in interpreting and audiovisual translation on CTS’s MA programmes and the professional training courses that I have delivered (e.g. for the Metropolitan Police Service in London).

From 2018-2021 I was a member of the DIN Working Group on Interpreting Services and Technologies and co-authored the first standard on remote consecutive interpreting worldwide (DIN 8578). I am a member of the BSI Sub-committee Terminology. From 2018-2022, I was the series editor of the IATIS Yearbook (Routledge) and am currently associate series editor for interpreting of Elements in Translation and Interpreting (CUP) and a member of the Advisory Board of Interpreting (Benjamins). I was appointed to the sub-panel for Modern Languages and Linguistics for the Research Excellence Framework REF 2021.

See profile