The 2027 conference theme
NewInsights,SharedPurpose
Each year, The Together Conference creates space for sign language interpreters and translators to reflect on practice, engage with new ideas and learn from one another.
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At the centre of the professions
Bringing sign language interpreters and translators together to explore fresh research, challenge established thinking and share ideas.
At the heart of interpreting and translation is a shared purpose. Yet the way we understand and carry out that purpose is shaped by many factors, including training, professional culture, working context, lived experience, research and the changing demands of the field.
It is easy to work from what is familiar, but no single pathway, viewpoint or body of knowledge can speak for the profession as a whole. Across countries, domains, languages and communities, professionals are asking similar questions in different ways.
What shapes a perspective?
Every professional viewpoint has a context.
The theme invites us to engage seriously with those differences and remain open to fresh thinking from across the profession.
Professionalperspective
TrainingProfessional cultureWorking contextLived experienceResearchLanguagesCommunitiesChanging demandsWhere insights emerge
Knowledge does not arrive in only one form.
New Insights, Shared Purpose encourages an open, thoughtful and wide-ranging programme. It creates space for work that examines both the realities of professional practice and the ideas that shape it.
The conference welcomes contributions from practitioners, researchers, educators, Deaf professionals, translators and interpreters working across different contexts. Alongside presentations grounded in day-to-day practice, the theme invites academic and research-led submissions exploring new theories, models, frameworks, findings and questions that may deepen understanding or contribute to stronger professional practice.
Reflective practice
Case studies
Lived experience
Professional projects
Panel discussion
Education and training
Practical sessions
Questions for the professional conversation
What changes when we look beyond what is familiar?
What can we learn from colleagues working in different settings, sectors or countries?
How do different professional, linguistic or cultural contexts shape practice?
Which perspectives are missing, overlooked or underrepresented in current professional discussion?
How can research, training and lived experience be brought together in useful and meaningful ways?
What new theories, models or frameworks are emerging, and how might they inform practice?
What recent research could support stronger decision-making, greater access or improved professional understanding?
What happens when we question the assumptions behind our understanding of good practice?
Experience, placed in a wider conversation
A common purpose connects different roles and contexts.
This theme is not about setting aside experience. It is about placing our own experience within a broader professional conversation and recognising that the profession grows through exchange, reflection, research and a willingness to learn from others.
By making space for wider perspectives, fresh thinking and shared learning, New Insights, Shared Purpose aims to support a conference that feels relevant and worthwhile to practitioners, while offering a credible platform for academic and research-based contributions.
Whether the focus is specialist domains, cultural and linguistic difference, international perspectives, ethics, professional tensions, education or changing expectations, the theme asks what new insights may help strengthen our shared purpose.
Add your insight
What could your work contribute to this shared professional conversation?
Call for Papers is now open. Submit your proposal by Friday 18 December 2026. Proposals may draw on research, practice, professional learning, lived experience or work still asking important questions.