At the end of October 2021, staff members of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communications took part in two international online conferences on the development of publication activity and academic writing.
The Supporting Faculty in Writing for Publication: Best Practices Conference was organized by the Academic Writing Centre of HSE University October 29 through October 30, 2021.
The conference was dedicated to burning issues of teaching scientific writing and supporting authors in publishing activities, various models of organizing such support within the university, exchange of experience among university teachers of academic writing and heads of Russian and international writing centres.
Leading experts in academic writing, such as Karen Ottewell, Director of Academic Development and Training for International Students at the University of Cambridge; Carolyn Westbrook, Test Development Researcher at the British Council; James Corcoran, Assistant Professor of ESL and Applied Linguistics at York University, Ron Martinez, Director the Academic Publishing Advisory Centre; Ashley Squires, Director of the Writing and Communications Center at New Economic School; and others were the speakers at the conference.
The Head of the Academic Writing Office Evgeniya Khabirova was invited as a moderator of the Approaches to Assisting Academics section, and also presented a report on the experience of developing a distance-learning course in academic writing for staff members of South Ural State University named Research Writing: Experience of Online Course Design and represented the SUSU Academic Writing Office at the poster section. The editor-consultant of the Academic Writing Office Amanda Wegner and the teaching staff member of the Department of Linguistics and Translation Olga Tolstykh participated in the conference as attendees.
The Head of the Department of Foreign Languages Ksenia Volchenkova made a presentation on Online Course in Academic Writing for Academic Staff. The Head of the Department of Linguistics and Translation Оlga Babina and Professor of the Department of Linguistics and Translation, Director of the Innovation in Linguistics Research and Education Centre Svetlana Sheremetyeva presented a report on Language Technology Environment for Teaching Academic Writing in English.
On October 31, 2021, the Association of Academic Writing Experts “National Writing Centres Consortium” organized the 3rd International Conference on Research Writing: Teaching Approaches and Assessment Practices at NUST MISIS, a long-time partner of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communications. The conference brought together experts in the field of scientific writing, journal editors, interpreters/translators, teachers of English for academic and research purposes, as well as tutors and staff members of university writing centres. Representatives of the professional community of experts in academic writing exchanged best practices in teaching academic discourse.
As the Director of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communications Elena Yaroslavova noted, participation in the conferences allowed staff members of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communications to establish new professional contacts and discuss the possibilities of creating joint projects with like-minded people in the field of developing academic literacy and promoting scientific writing in Russian universities.