Director on behalf of MPDF for the 2024-2025 post-graduate degree program
Multilingual Sign Language Interpreting & Translation Studies (MITS)
Exceptional partnership
The Multilingual Sign Language Interpreting and Translation Studies (MITS) program has been a unique international journey made possible through the support from and collaboration with over forty lecturers, supervisors, and experts from across the world.
The groundbreaking post-graduate degree program was specifically designed for professional sign language interpreters and translators working with various language combinations. The exceptional partnership between Mason Perkins Deafness Fund Onlus and the University of Siena has successfully brought forward nineteen interpreters skilled in working in multilingual environments.
CURRICULUM
Taught in International Sign and English, the program featured a robust practical focus. The curriculum consisted of a total of 360 hours, with 120 hours per semester. The students were taught six times (4 days per session) onsite at the Arezzo campus of the University of Siena and at Mason Perkins Deafness Fund in Siena. The remaining classes were all taught remotely. MITS organized also two public online seminars in cooperation with the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the European Union of the Deaf (EUD).
RESEARCH FINDINGS PRESENTED BY 19 PRACTISEARCHERS
The MITS program started in April 2024 and ended in October 2025 with a final seminar. The students, nineteen professional sign language interpreters from nine European countries, presented the findings of their academic research. You can read the topics and the summary of their presentations here.
During their final year, students conducted studies into topics drawn from their daily practice, each guided by a supervisor from across Europe with academic expertise in sign language interpreting and translation. MITS is deeply grateful to all supervisors for generously donating their time and expertise, thereby advancing the development of the sign language interpreting profession: Robert Skinner, Aleksandra Kalata-Zawlocka, Karolien Gebruers, Letizia Cirillo, Ingela Holmström, Liona Paulus, Ildikó Horváth, Verónica Pérez Guarnieri, Silvia Calamai, Rosalba Nodari, Nicolas Hanquet, Isabelle Heyerick, Nora Duggan, Aurélia Nana Gassa Gonga , Paul Michaels, Catherine King, Maya de Wit.