Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
My research interests revolve around broadly understood translation, both its theory and practice. I like to challenge the popular cliché according to which meanings get “lost in translation” – in my view, the opposite is true: translation, more often than not, creates a surplus of meaning by opening up horizons of possibilities. Consequently, I view translation as a key epistemological concept which underpins a range of key notions and practices in the humanities (see my book Ubiquitous Translation, Routledge 2016). Much of my earlier work focussed on linguistic and ideological aspects of translation (in particular of sacred texts); recently I have been exploring issues of its axiology, methodology, logic, and ethics.
From 2012–2015 I was the Principal Investigator in an AHRC-funded Research Networking grant exploring English evaluative concepts in translated religious and devotional texts. Our findings have been published in the co-edited volume Translating Values (Palgrave Macmillan 2016). More recently, I have been Co-Investigator on the research project "The Languages of Covid-19: Implications for Global Healthcare" (2020–2021), funded by British Academy, led by Dr Steven Wilson.
I have authored and co-authored over thirty scholarly outputs. My work has been published in leading journals, including Target, Translation Studies, and translation: a transdisciplinary journal. I have recently contributed chapters to the Routledge Handbook of Translation and Culture (2018), the third edition of the authoritative Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2020), and to the volume Contesting Epistemologies in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies (2022).
Since 2019, I have been the Editor-in-chief of the journal Translation Studies. Previously, I served as the journal's Associate Editor (2015-2019) and Book Reviews Editor (2014-2015).
I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the United Kingdom, a member of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies and a member of the European Society for Translation Studies. I serve on the EST's Open Access Prize Committee.
I am a member of the Advisory Board of the Nida Centre for Advanced Research on Translation in Rimini, Italy.
RESEARCH SUPERVISION
To date, I have first-supervised to completion 13 PhD projects:
- Sarah Buchanan, “Remapping Galatians in New Linguistic and Cultural Contexts” (2016);
- Aladdin Al-Tarawneh, “Towards a New Methodology for Translating the Quran into English: A Hybrid Model” (2016);
- Paulina Wilson, “Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters: Comparative, Translational and Evidential Issues Arising from Substantive Law Variation” (2017);
- Mohammad Aldala’in, “Making Translation Decisions and the Constitution of Translation Knowledge and Anxiety with Special Reference to Joseph Conrad’s Falk: A Naturalistic Retrospective Approach” (2017);
- Fernanda Verçosa, “The Trouble with Translatability: Securing the Visibility of Owen McCafferty’s Plays in Brazilian Portuguese” (2018);
- Ewa Watson, "Unspoken Truths: The Northern Ireland Rules of Evidence and Procedure in Cases Involving Non-English Speaking Parties - Revision as Intervention" (2018);
- Carolina Espinoza Marquez, "Translation and the Lingua Franca in Scientific Communication: The Case of the Scientific Community from Mexico" (2020);
- Wanhong Wang, "Bringing Public Services to the Public: Interpreting and Translating in Healthcare Settings for Social Cohesion" (2020);
- Zhaohan Xu, "Negotiating Hybridity in Gu Hongming’s English Translation of Confucian Texts" (2021);
- Yiwen Yin, "Translating Traditional Chinese Medicine Anchored in Philosophy: Towards a Fuller Account of the Cultural Richness of Su Wen" (2021);
- Nermin Al-Sharman, "Investigating the Challenges of Medical Interpreting in the Refugee Context in Jordan" (2022),
- Yuan Zou, "Translating Knowledge: A Study on the Audiovisual Translation of Chinese Open Courses for International Audiences" (2023)
- Ye Tian, "Exploring Nation Branding from a Translation Studies Perspective: Translational Insights in Soft Power Research with Special Reference to China's Belt and Road Initiative" (2023)
In addition, I have co-supervised seven further PhD theses on topics ranging from translator and interpreter training, to ideology in simultaneous broadcast interpreting, to politics of recognition in signed language interpreting.
I welcome original and ambitious research proposals exploring the shared ground between translation and philosophy, logic, theology, linguistics, literature, ethnography, history, and other areas.
Teaching
I have convened and taught the following postgraduate modules:
- Theory and Practice of Translation
- Translation and Linguistics
- Meaning, Sense, Translation
- Translation and Public Policy
- Translation of Sacred Texts
- Principles and Practices of Interpreting
- Public Service Interpreting
- Disseration Writing
- Practical Translation Workshop
In the last decade, I have supervised to completion over eighty MA dissertations on various aspects of translation and interpreting, at three different universities in the UK and Poland.
I have been External Examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Translation and Interpreting, Polish, and Slavonic Studies at the University of Glasgow, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Portsmouth, and Goldsmiths, University of London. Since 2015, I have been involved as translation expert (English-Polish) at Chartered Institute of Linguists. I have been regularly invited as Visiting Faculty to the Nida School of Translation Studies in Misano Adriatico, Italy (in 2014, 2017 and 2018). In 2016 I was one of the three professors for the Nida School of Bible Translation. In 2015 I was appointed a Visiting Professor at the College of Foreign Languages of Jilin University in Changchun, China, where I have since taught a range of mini-modules for postgraduate students, including "Interdisciplinary Explorations into the Theory and Practice of Translation", "Translation of Sacred Texts", "Translation is Everywhere”, and "The Value of Translation".
I have presented guest lectures at the University of Manchester, University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh, Durham University, University of Stirling, Trinity College Dublin, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin, and the University of Wrocław. I am often invited to China -- in the last five years I have given guest talks at Jilin University in Changchun, Sichuan International Studies University in Chongqing, Minzu University in Beijing, East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, Ningbo Institute of Technology (Zhejiang University), Shenzhen University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and Taiyuan University of Technology.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Projects
- 2 Finished
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R1272AEL: The Language(s) of Covid-19: Implications for Global Healthcare
06/07/2020 → 05/10/2021
Project: Research
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COVID-19 and the importance of languages in public health (policy paper)
Blumczynski, P. & Wilson, S., 27 Feb 2023, In: Languages, Society & Policy.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Experiencing Translationality: Material and Metaphorical Journeys
Blumczynski, P., 16 May 2023, 1st ed. London and New York: Routledge. 224 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Ontological positions
Blumczynski, P. & Sadler, N., 13 Jan 2023, (Accepted) Routledge handbook of concepts and theories of translation. Meylaerts, R. & Marais, K. (eds.). New York and London : Routledge, p. 28-50 23 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Are we all in this together?
Blumczynski, P. & Wilson, S., 30 Nov 2022, The languages of COVID-19: translational and multilingual perspectives on global healthcare. Blumczynski, P. & Wilson, S. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 1-11 (Routledge Studies in Health Humanities).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Downloads (Pure) -
The languages of COVID-19: translational and multilingual perspectives on global healthcare
Blumczynski, P. (ed.) & Wilson, S. (ed.), 30 Nov 2022, London and New York: Routledge. 264 p. (Routledge Studies in Health Humanities)Research output: Book/Report › Book
Open Access
Prizes
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Discretionary Award for Exceptional Peformance
Blumczynski, Piotr (Recipient), 2012
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Discretionary Award for Exceptional Peformance
Blumczynski, Piotr (Recipient), 2014
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Towards a Processual Sensitivity in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies
Piotr Blumczynski (Keynote speaker)
20 Apr 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited or keynote talk at national or international conference
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“Where Are We Now? The Location of Modern Languages and Cultures” conference
Steven Wilson (Speaker) & Piotr Blumczynski (Speaker)
19 Apr 2023 → 21 Apr 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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Przekład jako doświadczenie zmysłowe: święte relikwie i gitara Erica Claptona
Piotr Blumczynski (Invited speaker)
18 Jan 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Launch of the book "An Archival Journey through the Qatar Peninsula: Elusive and Precarious" by Sue-Ann Harding
Piotr Blumczynski (Host)
16 Jan 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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Experiencing Translationality
Piotr Blumczynski (Invited speaker)
13 Jan 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public lecture/debate/seminar
Press/Media
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TV interview on "Translating Values: Insights from Multilingual and Multiethnic Focus Groups in Northern Ireland"
17/06/2016
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Expert Comment