Speaker Details
Find out more about our keynote speakers for the 2025 conference
Dr Maria del Carmen Fonseca Mora, Universidad de Huelva (Spain)
"Affective literacy in an additional language"
This presentation explores the teaching of reading skills from the perspective of the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies. We will reflect on the reading process as a key element of a transformative education that incorporates the voices of linguistically and culturally diverse people to enable the construction of meanings that merge our cultures.
Dr. M.Carmen Fonseca-Mora is Full Professor and the founder of ReALL (Research in Affective Language Learning Lab) at the University of Huelva, Spain. She's a member of the Research Center "Contemporary Thinking and Innovation for social Development". Her main research interests are related to applied linguistics and language teacher training. She’s currently a member of the Conseil Européen pour les Langues / European Language Council (CEL/ELC). She's associate editor of the European Journal of Language Policy.
Her latest research projects include:
· "Multiliteracies for adult at-risk learners of additional languages" (MultiLits)
. "Musical aptitude, reading fluency and intercultural literacy of European university students" (MusicLang)
. "PERCEPCIóN MUSICAL Y DESTREZAS LECTORAS EN EL APRENDIZAJE DE UNA LENGUA EXTRANJERA" http://www.andalusianstories.com/shiny-people/in-science/news-andalusia-carmen-fonseca-music-languages-learning/
Rob Lindsay, Sam Saunders and Tünde Varga-Atkins, University of Liverpool
"Multimodal learning using Generative AI"
Rob Lindsay is a digital education specialist at the Centre for Innovation in Education, where he integrates technology and pedagogy to create accessible, engaging, and innovative learning experiences. Rob has a particular focus on the effective and inclusive use of AI in education. With a background in digital multimedia and educational innovation, he has designed extensive digital learning environments. Rob's work and research explores AI-driven learning, immersive digital spaces, and collaborative tools that enhance student engagement and educational equity.
Dr Sam Saunders is an Educational Developer in the Centre for Innovation in Education at the University of Liverpool, UK. His research interests include assessment and feedback practices, authentic assessment and pedagogy, decolonising the curriculum, and Generative AI in Education. Sam has recently presented and published on Generative AI policy development in higher education, and the decolonisation of authentic pedagogy at the annual Assessment in Higher Education conference in Manchester. Sam also writes on nineteenth-century literature and culture.
Dr Tünde Varga-Atkins is a Senior Educational Developer at the Centre for Innovation in Education, University of Liverpool, UK and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her specific areas of research encompass areas in digital/AI capabilities, signature pedagogies, curriculum design and evaluation, multimodal learning, assessment and feedback, learner experience research and scholarship of learning and teaching. Tünde is editor of Research in Learning Technology.
Professor Robert O'Dowd, Universidad de León, Spain
"Developing Global Citizens through Virtual Exchange: Opportunities and Challenges"
https://portalcientifico.unileon.es/investigadores/97567/detalle
Virtual Exchange (VE) refers to the numerous online learning initiatives and methodologies which engage learners in online collaborative learning and interaction with partners from different cultural backgrounds as part of their study programmes and under the guidance of educators. Although Virtual Exchange has been employed in university foreign language education for over 25 years, for most of that time it has very much been a peripheral activity, carried out and promoted by a small but convinced group of practitioners.
However, current debates on the economic and environmental cost of study abroad programs, as well as the challenges to physical mobility posed by the recent global pandemic, have made VE an increasingly attractive option for institutions of higher education as they search for sustainable models of international learning which will help to develop students’ language and intercultural competences and promote global citizenship.
In this presentation I will use key publications from the literature to explore how VE can promote approaches to global citizenship education. I will also reflect on the challenges educators face as we try to use this activity to deal with issues of diversity and inclusion and to establish equitable relationships with partners in the global south.
A list of resources on Virtual Exchange curated by the author can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fbQ1xpPM_HHBiOlulk_mlSN0MkgrRyZpVM4lTx-BrM0/edit?usp=sharing
Robert O'Dowd is full professor for English Studies at the Universidad de León, Spain. He has taught at universities in Ireland, Germany and Spain. He has published extensively on the application of Virtual Exchange in higher education and has coordinated 3 Erasmus+ projects, including the European Policy Experiment ‘Virtual Innovation and Support Networks for Teachers’ (VALIANT) (2021-2024). He collaborates with organizations on the promotion and integration of Virtual Exchange in higher education and his most recent book is Internationalising Higher Education and the Role of Virtual Exchange (2023, Routledge). He was recently listed in Stanford University’s ‘Ranking of the World Scientists: World´s Top 2% Scientists’.
https://unileon.academia.edu/RobertODowd