University of Wales Trinity Saint David - Alan R. King Chair 2024: Mikel Gartziarena

The Fellowship, named after the eminent linguist, the late Dr Alan R. King, is an opportunity for a scholar from the Basque Country to go to Wales to research and to contribute to teaching and knowledge exchange in these fields of sociolinguistics and language policy and planning.

Mikel Gartziarena will spend six weeks at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth, where he will develop research activities revolving around Basque sociolinguistics and language.

Dr Mikel Gartziarena’s expertise is in bilingual and Basque medium education. Earlier this year, he was involved in an innovative project to introduce new elements to teacher training in the education models in the Basque Country, and will share the initial results in his hybrid lecture from the National Library and in the follow-up workshop.

Mikel Gartziarena has a broad-ranging programme as part of his period as Professor in Residence in Wales. His first event will be a lecture entitled, ‘Pre- and in-service teachers’ language attitudes towards Basque’. The lecture will be held live on Thursday, 24 October 2024, at 17:00h in the Drwm, National Library of Wales, and online via Zoom.

To join online, please register here for the Zoom link: https://forms.office.com/e/B5pBJXYY5G

The following day, Friday 25 October, a workshop on education in the Basque Country will be held at the National Library to discuss Mikel Gartziarena’s work further and to consider the challenges and good practice that exist in Wales.

Alan R. King Chair

Through the chair launched in 2022, Basque studies will be promoted in the postgraduate programmes at the University of Wales and in the research forums at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (CAWCS), by means of conferences and seminars. Each year, a visiting professor or researcher will undertake a six-week placement to conduct a research seminar and give an open lecture.