ESRC Doctoral Training Centre
Language-Based Area Studies and the Wales Doctoral Training Centre
In 2006, in the light of the Demographic Review of UK Social Sciences, the ESRC defined seven key priority ‘shortage’ areas, including Language Based Area studies. The Welsh Government, British Council in Wales, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, the British Academy and the European Commission have all identified a crisis in the teaching of languages in Wales and Great Britain in general. In particular, postgraduates in Britain are being ill equipped to undertake research in foreign languages and area studies.
The School of Languages, Translation Studies and Politics (EUROP) at Cardiff University, with existing ESRC recognition for Area and Development Studies, strongly pressed the case for the creation of Language Based Area Studies as a developmental pathway within the proposed Wales Doctoral Training Centre. Without such a pathway there would be no emphasis upon language building capacity in Wales, and no strategy for redemption of the language based skills deficit.
Language Based Area Studies is now recognised as a new developmental pathway, with two students starting in 2012 Nicholas Griffin and David Humphries.
This development pathway has been promoted to address what ESRC has identified as an area in which there is a research-capacity shortage. It is based on a growing collaboration between Cardiff and Swansea that significantly enhances the Wales DTC’s capacity to deliver high-quality research training in this field.
Core research skills training will be provided through Cardiff’s Masters in Social Science Research Methods, which has been recognised by the ESRC for Area and Development Studies for some time.
Details of the launch conference held in May 2012 - Language Based Area Studies: Challenges and Perspectives.
Details of events for the academic session: 2012-2103-events.
A training event was held in Swansea University on 9th November dedicated to the theme of Political Identity. Language Based Area Studies: Cardiff and Swansea Come Together. This event was the first in a series planned for the academic year 2012-2013.
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