Language Symposium marks latest chapter in Celtic Academies Alliance journey
The Royal Society of Edinburgh has officially taken over the secretariat role of the Celtic Academies Alliance, marked at a symposium on languages in Wrexham on Wednesday 29 April.
The Celtic Academies Alliance Languages Symposium united researchers and policymakers from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by language-learning.
The Celtic Academies Alliance comprises the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), Learned Society of Wales (LSW), and the Royal Irish Academy (RIA). Its role is to promote collaboration and strengthen cross-national understanding within the UK and the whole island of Ireland, using the collective expertise of the three national academies to inform public policy to address shared societal challenges, and advance research across a range of disciplines.
RSE President Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli PRSE will serve as the chair of the Alliance, taking over from the previous chair, Professor Hywel Thomas FLSW, president of the Learned Society of Wales.
Under Professor Thomas’ leadership, the Celtic Academies Alliance established itself formally and brought together leading experts from across the Celtic nations to advise government officials and funders on topics including research collaboration, and relations between the nations within the alliance.
Professor Thomas said: “The language symposium in Wrexham demonstrates precisely the sort of collaborative working and thinking that lay behind the formation of the Celtic Academies Alliance.
“The aim of the Alliance is to tackle shared challenges, with outcomes that benefit the communities within which we sit. One way to do that is to bring research to bear on policy debates and decisions, not least language policy, as was evident at the symposium.
“As we hand on the secretariat role to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, we’re excited at the opportunities the Alliance has to flourish in the future.”
RSE President Sir Anton Muscatelli said: “It is with great pleasure that I accept the role of chair of the Celtic Academies Alliance.“It was only in January of this year that the Celtic Academies Alliance was formalised, building on what had already been many years of fruitful work.
“These kinds of partnerships and alliances are more important than ever to our research communities and our wider society, and I am looking forward to stewarding the Celtic Academies Alliance through its commitments over the next year.”