Language Learning Round Table

Topic | Pathways to Impact: Connecting Research, Innovation, and Society
Date | Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Time | 14:00–17:00
Moderator | Professor Patrick Rebuschat, Lancaster University

This Round Table explores how research on second language learning, multilingualism, and language technologies can generate impact beyond academia. Bringing together perspectives from research, school leadership, public institutions, education policy, digital learning, and responsible AI, the session will focus on how evidence and expertise can be translated into practice.

The discussion will examine two connected pathways to impact. First, it will consider how research on language learning and multilingual experience can inform inclusive education, teacher training, curriculum development, assessment, public engagement, and language policy. Second, it will explore how advances in AI-supported language education, speech technology, and machine translation can support innovation while remaining responsive to educational and societal needs.

The aim is to move from broad ambition toward a more concrete discussion of impact. The invited speakers bring substantial experience in working across sectors, including collaborations between researchers, schools, public institutions, policymakers, educational organizations, technology developers, and industry partners. The Round Table will draw on these experiences to consider what helps research travel more effectively into schools, public institutions, international organizations, and technology-mediated learning environments. It will invite reflection on where language research can make a difference, what kinds of partnerships are needed, and how researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and technology developers might work together more effectively and responsibly.

Speakers

Professor Gigi Luk
Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University
Professor Gigi Luk is Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University, where she also directs the M.Ed. concentrations in Educational Psychology and Human Development. She is Director of the Bilingualism Experience Education (B.E.E.) Lab, which studies bilingualism as a life and learning experience in children, adolescents, and adults. Her research examines bilingualism across the lifespan, with a focus on language and literacy development, cognitive development, and the neural mechanisms involved in learning. The B.E.E. Lab investigates the cognitive, linguistic, and learning mechanisms that underlie bilingual experience, while also examining how bilingualism is shaped by the environments in which people live and learn. Her work connects scientific questions about bilingual cognition and learning with educational questions about literacy, inclusion, and linguistic diversity. Her perspective brings together bilingualism research, educational psychology, neuroscience, and equity-oriented educational practice.

Professor Detmar Meurers
Head of the Language and AI in Education Lab, Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien; Professor of Computational Linguistics, University of Tübingen
Professor Detmar Meurers is Head of the Language and AI in Education Lab at the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media) in Tübingen and Professor of Computational Linguistics at the University of Tübingen. His research sits at the interface of computational linguistics, second language acquisition, and empirical educational research. He works on linguistic complexity, learner corpora, automated analysis of learner language, reading comprehension, intelligent tutoring systems, adaptive learning technologies, and AI-supported feedback and assessment. A distinctive feature of his work is the systematic development and evaluation of digital tools in real educational settings, including schools, using randomized controlled field studies and learning analytics. His work also involves collaboration with non-academic stakeholders, including educational publishers, schools, public education partners, and the Camões Institute, Portugal’s public institute for international cooperation and the promotion of Portuguese language and culture. His perspective connects language research with educational technology, classroom implementation, and the responsible use of AI to support language learning.

Professor Helena Moniz
Assistant Professor, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon; Researcher, INESC-ID; President, European Association for Machine Translation
Professor Helena Moniz is Assistant Professor at the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, and a researcher at INESC-ID (Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Research and Development), working across computational linguistics, speech processing, machine translation, post-editing, and responsible AI. She is President of the European Association for Machine Translation and previously served as President of the International Association for Machine Translation. She is also a Board Member of the International Speech Communication Association, Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Center for Responsible AI, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures. Her work connects human language technologies with translation, speech, linguistic quality assessment, ethics, and real-world AI applications. From 2015 to 2024, she led a bilateral project between INESC-ID and Unbabel, a translation company combining AI and post-editing, developing scalable linguistic quality assurance processes for translation workflows. Her perspective brings language research into direct contact with technology development, professional translation practice, responsible innovation, and the societal implications of AI-mediated communication.

Paula Simões
EduQA, Portugal’s Institute of Education, Quality and Assessment
Paula Simões is Head of the Multidisciplinary Team for the Review of Curriculum Design in Basic and Secondary Education at EduQA, Portugal’s Institute of Education, Quality and Assessment. In this role, she contributes to national-level work on the organisation and development of the school curriculum.
Her background combines language teaching, teacher education, curriculum development, and educational assessment. She has taught English, German, and English translation in basic and secondary education since 1986 and has held several pedagogical and school leadership roles. She also has extensive experience in teacher training, including initial teacher education, continuing professional development, assessment, and subject-specific didactics.
At national level, she worked at IAVE, the Portuguese Institute for Educational Assessment, from 2011 to 2017 and again from 2024, carrying out evaluation auditing and technical-pedagogical advisory work. From 2017 to 2024, she was Director of External Assessment Services at IAVE. She has also contributed to projects on bilingual education, foreign-language learning goals, Cambridge English for Schools Portugal, and Portuguese as a foreign language assessment.

Rui Vaz
Director of Language Services, Camões Institute
Rui Vaz has been Director of Language Services at the Camões Institute since March 2019. Camões is Portugal’s public institute for international cooperation and the promotion of Portuguese language and culture worldwide. In this role, he oversees work related to Portuguese language teaching, teacher training, certification, digital resources, and cultural outreach across international networks, including Portuguese-speaking and diaspora communities. His background combines classroom teaching, teacher education, digital learning, publishing, and language-policy implementation. After completing degrees in Portuguese language and literature and professional teacher education at the University of Lisbon, he became a permanent teacher in 1996 and taught Portuguese in schools, while also coordinating pedagogical, ICT, and teacher-training initiatives. Between 2007 and 2012, he collaborated with Porto Editora, one of Portugal’s leading educational publishers, on the scientific review of textbooks for Portuguese as a non-native and foreign language. From 2007, he worked with Camões on the Centro Virtual Camões (Camões Virtual Center), its online platform for Portuguese language, literature, culture, and distance learning. His experience connects language education, educational publishing, public institutions, digital provision, certification, and international cooperation.

Professor Patrick Rebuschat
Moderator | Lancaster University
Professor Patrick Rebuschat is Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science and Camões Institute Chair for Multilingualism and Diversity at Lancaster University. His research examines how children and adults learn and process additional languages, with a particular focus on multilingualism, second language acquisition, heritage language bilingualism, statistical learning, and implicit learning. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and his BA from the University of Lisbon. At Lancaster, he co-directs the Lancaster Language Learning Lab and the Multilingualism and Cognition Research Group. His ongoing roles also include serving on the Advisory Board of Native Scientist, an organization that connects scientists with children from migrant and multilingual communities through outreach activities in their heritage languages. He has previously led the NOVA Lancaster Partnership and the Heritage Language 2 Consortium, a strategic partnership involving six leading universities and the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Director of Internationalization for Lancaster’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and as President of the Scientific Advisory Board of PARSUK, the association of Portuguese researchers and students in the United Kingdom. His work connects research, public engagement, scientific diplomacy, and language-policy initiatives.

Program