KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Prof. Dr. Dr. Ghil‘ad Zuckermann, The University of Adelaide, Australia
Professor Ghil‘ad Zuckermann (DPhil Oxford; PhD Cambridge, titular) is Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He is the founder of Revivalistics, a new trans-disciplinary field of enquiry surrounding language reclamation, revitalization and reinvigoration, the author of Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 2020) and a number of other books and articles, a chief investigator in a large research project assessing language revival and mental health, funded by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). He is the editor of Burning Issues in Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (2012), Jewish Language Contact (2014), elected member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and the Foundation for Endangered Language (FEL). He is President of the Australian Association for Jewish Studies, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Consultant and Expert and Research Fellow in a number of world universities. His MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), Language Revival: Securing the Future of Endangered Languages, has attracted 20,000 learners from 190 countries (speakers of hundreds of distinct languages).
Sigitas Lūžys, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
Sigitas Lūžys is a lecturer of Latin at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania) since 1990. Education: Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University (Lithuania) in 1986. Qualification: philologist, teacher of the Lithuanian language and literature (classical philology). Sigitas Lūžys is a council member of the Research Cluster on the Grand Duchy of the Lithuanian State and Society Development, a member of the Research Cluster on Plurilingual Competence Development, a lecturer and junior researcher at the Institute of Foreign Languages at Vytautas Magnus University Institute. In 2018, Sigitas Lūžys was awarded The Prize of Martynas Mažvydas for his translation of Didysis artilerijos menas (Art of the Great Artillery) part 1 by Kazimieras Semenavičiaus from Latin into Lithuanian and significant scientific research within a five-year period on the ancient Lithuanian literary and written heritage, literary and cultural activities of Lithuanian cultural figures, Lithuanian books and the press.
Dr. Déirdre Kirwan, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Déirdre Kirwan was principal of a linguistically diverse primary school, Scoil Bhríde (Cailíní), Blanchardstown, Ireland, from 1987 to 2015. She led the development of an integrated approach to language teaching and learning that supported the use of immigrant pupils’ home languages in the classroom. She was nominated European Ambassador for Languages (Léargas) in 2008 and awarded her PhD by Trinity College Dublin in 2009. She has contributed to the new Primary Language Curriculum (Ireland) and the Early Language Learning project of the European Centre for Modern Languages, Graz. With David Little she co-authored Engaging with Linguistic Diversity: A Study of Educational Inclusion in an Irish Primary School (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019).