Bridging institutional development expertise: Tartu linguists visit MEDAL partners in Birmingham

A delegation from the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics visited MEDAL partners at the University of Birmingham for a week full of conversations, knowledge exchange and comparison of best practices concerning institutional development on 5–7 March 2024.

We met with representatives of Research Operations and Support to learn about what pre-grant and post-award support is offered in Birmingham and how it is organised. We observed the open office in which the research support team ‘co-locate’ in the college two days a week to facilitate collaboration. We discussed Research Ethics approval practices, in order to better inform our recommendations for modifying aspects of ethics review on the level of the institute and faculty in Tartu.

On the second day, we discussed the teaching of languages and linguistics and curriculum development. Although the issues facing Birmingham’s English Language and Linguistics department are inevitably different from the ones Estonian and General Linguistics is grappling with, especially those concerning recruitment and visibility, we nevertheless fruitfully discussed many similar challenges. On our final day in Birmingham, we discussed Research Communication and the structure of marketing and communication at the respective universities. Last but not least, we learned about Digital Humanities support and events at UoB from two colleagues involved in promoting DH and digital media curriculum development.

The most tangible result of our visit is the agreement to initiate a Memorandum of Understanding between our two universities to facilitate student and staff exchange opportunities, so that mobility between Tartu and Birmingham can continue beyond the scope of the MEDAL project. The MoU is now under negotiation, and will also include the intention to collaborate more widely than student and staff mobility.

MEDAL is an international consortium funded by the European Union and UK Research and Innovation, aimed at building expertise in data-driven linguistic methodology. We collaborate and provide training and mentorship opportunities, including improving research and teaching capacity, especially at the lead institute in Tartu. We look forward to visiting our partners in Nijmegen on next year’s capacity building trip, which promises to be equally insightful!