There will be two keynote sessions at APTIS25, each jointly presented by a translation scholar and industry partner.

Keynote speech 1

Audio description in practice: Challenges and opportunities in Irish industry and education

Jointly presented by Dr Lucía Pintado (Dublin City University, Ireland) & Pádraig Naughton (Arts & Disability Ireland)

Dr Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies (CTTS) at Dublin City University. Her fields of research include Accessibility and Translation; Translation in Language Education; and Memory and Translation Studies. Lucía maintains strong collaborations with industry partners in the fields of media accessibility and language services, working closely with professionals and organisations to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Her current research centres on audiovisual translation and accessibility, especially audio description (AD), where she explores strategies to address challenges in service provision, professionalisation pathways, and the integration of AD in the entertainment industry in Ireland. This work, part of a broader European context, includes partnerships with accessibility experts and content creators in Ireland and is supported by the Irish Research Council (2023–2025).

Pádraig Naughton became Executive Director of Arts & Disability Ireland (ADI) in 2005.  Working strategically in partnership with the arts sector, ADI champions the creativity of artists with disabilities and promotes inclusive experiences for audiences with disabilities In 2022 Pádraig graduated with an LLM in International & Comparative Disability Law & Policy from the University of Galway. That same year, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C., recognised his lifetime achievement with an Excellence in Accessibility Leadership Award.  From 2024-2027, Pádraig will represent Project Arts Centre as an Expert Collaborator on the Europe Beyond Access consortium.

 

Keynote speech 2

Industry? What industry?

Jointly presented by Dr Christophe Fricker (University of Bristol, UK) & Claire Suttie (Atlas Translations)

Dr Christophe Fricker is Associate Professor of German and Translation at the University of Bristol, where he serves as programme director of the MA Translation. He is a former founding partner of Nimirum, a multinational research and consultancy firm, and the multi-award winning translator into German of poetry collections, novels and non-fiction books by James Dickey, Garielle Lutz, Yanko Tsvetkov, Owen Jones, Hugh Aldersey-Williams, and S.F. Said, among others. He is the English translator of works by sociologist Hartmut Rosa and poet Matthias Politycki. He is working on a German translation of Vikram Seth’s novel The Golden Gate  in 594 Onegin stanzas.

Clare Suttie is Director at Atlas Translations, and leads her exceptional team from the front. She is still as involved in the day-to-day work at Atlas Translations as she was when she founded the company in 1991. Her ethos is to always offer a personal, quality-oriented service to each client while also building strong relationships with the translators and interpreters working with Atlas. Clare has a knack for finding the right people with the right skills at the right time. It’s one of the many reasons Atlas Translations has become such a success. Clare’s team of talented translators, linguists, and project managers bridges the language divide; from Afrikaans to Zhuang, they make communication happen. In addition to running Atlas Translations, Clare runs a family, which she would sometimes argue is far more demanding. Based in Devon, Clare’s family includes one husband, three children, four chickens, and a generous number of cats. Clare has never knowingly turned down a cup of tea. She is also a strong believer in having a good work/life balance. In July 2019, she introduced a four-day working week for all staff, and the team are achieving year on year growth.