As a result of globalization and of the continuous development and improvement of ICT, spoken language travels through new devices and media. Similar trends can be observed in the field of spoken-language interpreting where, alongside traditional onsite interpreting, remote interpreting is spreading through the use of telephone and videoconferencing. Against this backdrop, the SHIFT project has created a European network - consisting of 4 universities offering interpreting programmes (Universities of Bologna, Granada, Surrey and Pablo de Olavide) and of 2 interpreting service providers (Dualia SL and VEASYT Srl) - with the goal of developing a comprehensive pedagogical solution for training in remote dialogue interpreting. The solution created was based on a) an in-depth study of orality in remote monolingual communication (EN, ES, IT) and remote, interpreter-mediated communication (for IT/ES, EN/ES, IT/EN), and b) a market analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of the current and future demand for remote interpreting and the educational implications. The specific objectives of the project were achieved and were as follows:1. Develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of orality that focuses on discourse features which are especially relevant in remote communication and for language mediation and interpreting. Building on insights from linguistics and multimodality, a thorough approach was developed to investigate situated orality and describe how monolingual remote discourse unfolds. 2. Apply this framework to the description and analysis of remote interpreter-mediated interactions;3. Carry out a needs/market analysis to elicit the most pressing knowledge gaps and educational needs in relation to remote interpreting; 4. Develop a comprehensive pedagogical solution including a methodology and relevant pedagogical resources for remote interpreting, based on the specific features and challenges of remote discourse and remote interpreting and othe outcomes of the market analysis; 5. Evaluate the pedagogical concept and resources with interpreter trainees and interpreting service providers in different fields of interpreting. The materials were evaluated through a Summer School, in which 24 students from the 4 partner HEIs and 18 teachers from the 6 SHIFT partners tested the materials created. Besides the main objectives described above, the project also achieved other important results. Some of these are the setting up of a successful working group of HEIs and companies, who managed to collaborate successfully towards project goals; the setting up of an effective dissemination strategy, planned and implemented throughout the project through various channels, both online (website, newsletter, social networks) and offline (through Multiplier Events, but also other events such as participatory events before meetings and other events designed to engage stakeholders); the engagement of a large community (500+ subjects) of language service providers and users while carrying out the market survey; networking and opportunities for exchanging best practices for all partners during events, meetings and the Summer School; a replicable model for the Summer School, which can be adjusted to suit different needs (HE training, lifelong learning). In general, one extremely positive aspect of the project was that the communication strategy implemented and the methodology used fostered the collaboration between HEIs and companies at two levels; the first level is the partnership itself, as companies, toghether with partner HEIs, played a fundamental and active role in developing outputs and implementing project activities; the second level is the one outside the partnership, with the involvement of a large community of stakeholders in project activities (especially the market survey; see above). The SHIFT project and its results have been and can be beneficial for trainee interpreters; academic and professional institutions involved in interpreter training; interpreting service providers and users in the public and private sectors, both in the short and in the long term. In the short term, trainers and trainers could benefit from the intensive training of the Summer School, where the teaching solution was tested. In the long term, the materials shared can be used by trainers, academics, professionals, language service providers and trainees both in the classroom and for self-study purposes. Interpreting students and practising interpreters can be enabled to increase their employability and digital literacy. Interpreting service providers can benefit by having access to a workforce of trained interpreters. Users of interpreting services can benefit from a better quality of service. Academic and professional institutions can benefit from bringing their curricula in line with market needs.

European incursions onto the narrow isthmian pass that divided and connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans made it a strategic node of the Spanish Empire and a crucial site for early modern globalization. On the front lines of the convergence of four continents, Old Panama offers an unusual opportunity for examining the diverse, often asymmetrical impacts of cultural and commercial contacts. The role of Italian, Portuguese, British, Dutch, and French interests in the area, as well as an influx of African slaves and Asian merchandise, have left a unique material legacy that requires an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to its varied sources. Bones, teeth and artifacts on this artery of Empire offer the possibility of new insights into the cultural and biological impact of early globalization. They also invite an interdisciplinary approach to different groups’ tactics for survival, including possible dietary changes, and the pursuit of profit. Such strategies may have led the diverse peoples inhabiting this junction, from indigenous allies to African and Asian bandits to European corsairs, to develop and to favor local production and Pacific trade networks at the expense of commerce with the metropolis. This project applies historical, archaeological and archaeometric methodologies to evidence of encounters between peoples and goods from Europe, America, Africa and Asia that took place on the Isthmus of Panama during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Forging an interdisciplinary approach to early globalization, it challenges both Euro-centric and Hispano-phobic interpretations of the impact of the conquest of America, traditionally seen as a demographic catastrophe that reached its nadir in the so-called seventeenth-century crisis. Rather than applying quantitative methods to incomplete source material, researchers will adopt a contextualized, inter-disciplinary, qualitative approach to diverse agents involved in cultural and commercial exchange.

Sustainability of cities is currently a key challenge in Europe: nowadays, around 70% of Europeans live in cities and this number will rise, therefore urban areas are the most important test-bed for energy transition and decarbonisation models. Decarbonisation measures concern a wide variety of topics, therefore their planning requires a systemic interdisciplinary approach that is currently not widespread in HE, but is nonetheless necessary to let new professional profiles emerge, able to coordinate different stakeholders, data and sources of information. In previous Erasmus projects such as EH-Cmap, ENEPLAN and E-RESPLAN project partners have put into practice holistic approach which resulted in interdisciplinary intellectual outputs. Building on the results of the FP7 City-Zen project, by using systemic interdisciplinary approach, the project intends to develop and test an innovative, creative, European-scaled learning environment called ‘city decarbonisation itinerant workshop’, where students, specialists and stakeholders can come together to address common onsite challenges and define collaborative urban decarbonisation roadmaps through a ‘learning-by-doing’ method.In this way, the project intends to help fulfilling the needs of Higher education in fields related to the built environment and urban sustainability, that often lack interdisciplinary approach, real-world experiences and contacts with real urban contexts and actors beyond classroom activities. To reach these objectives, the project foresees:- the definition of a common methodology to guide project implementation, that will be shared within the partnership during a dedicated Teachers training workshop- a series of 3 local workshops, touching different target cities (Seville, Siena, Rome), each one involving HEI students from the hosting partner university, experts from partner organisation and local stakeholders in the drafting of city decarbonisation roadmaps for target neighbourhoods/districts. Before each workshop, the hosting university will involvement its students in a context analysis and in the preparation of the knowledge base for the collaborative work to do during the workshop. - the fine-tuning and integration of the project methodology according to the workshops results, and the creation of a modular online course on urban decarbonisation collecting and organizing the OERs and the educational materials produced during the project - the realization of an open web-based platform where the online course and the other materials produced during the project will be freely accessible to students and professors for further exploitation- a last 2-weeks’ Intensive Course in Malta (embedding both a 1-week preparatory lab and a 1-week workshop), where 3 students per partner HEI and 2 teachers/trainers per partner organization will put into practice the final methodology and OERs and draft a sustainable development agenda for a target area in the city of Valletta. - a Final conference to present the project results, draw conclusions, provide guidelines and recommendations for the transferability of the project methodology and outputs.Participants will include HE students from participating universities, enrolled in geography, urban planning, architecture and environment courses, who will have an opportunity to experience a real life planning process in a stimulating, international and multidisciplinary learning environment. Students involved in the city decarbonisation itinerant workshop (around 100 in total) and in the Intensive Course (9) will acquire/improve their soft skills (ability to deal with complex, interdisciplinary urban issues, to work in team with non-academic stakeholders, to correctly interpret the urban context and identify shared solutions to common problems…) and trans-disciplinary competences, resulting in increased employability in both the public and the private sector (as energy managers, consultants, urban planners, policy makers, etc.). Participating teachers/trainers will also benefit from the innovative educational experience set up by the project, by testing a teaching practice that can be replicated in their regular academic activities, increasing the appeal and relevance of their courses. Moreover, local stakeholders (around 10 for each workshop, belonging to public sector, private enterprises, business support organizations and NGOs) and citizens participating in the workshops will gain awareness on urban sustainability issues and get an insight on planning processes.Long-term scope of the project is to improve cooperation and share knowledge to manage energy transition and pursue decarbonisation of European cities, combining multidisciplinary competences. The teaching/learning experiences implemented and materials provided in open access are therefore expected to allow for building capacity of new professional figures able to manage this urgent and necessary transition to carbon neutrality.

This research project aims to compare the British and Spanish empires in the nineteenth-century Caribbean. More specifically, it focuses on the discourse on food in the British and Spanish colonies. This project stems from my doctoral research. My aim is both to find a connection between the ways in which food and diet were perceived and discussed in the British and Spanish Caribbean colonies and to evaluate the differences in the discourse on food in the two empires, with the objective of analyzing colonial identities and imperial ideology in the Caribbean through the lens of food. My focus on food and diet sheds light on how encounters, negotiations, appropriations, rejections and interactions of culinary practices are more than just a matter of human nutrition but rather concern fundamental issues as the construction of identities, asymmetries of power, agency of the subaltern and mutual influences. The basic assumption of this project is therefore an analysis of the relationship between food, identity and power.