Language development in typically developing children is the culmination of 18 months of learning how to share ideas with others. In this introduction I describe how congenital deafness disrupts early communicative development. I focus on the growth of inter-subjectivity (sharing of ideas) between the neonate and the hearing parent. This happens first through reciprocation, joint attention and then shared representations (words). I show how hearing parents alter the way they communicate with deaf infants: reducing complexity and connectedness and increasing labelling and directiveness (e.g. Hardman, Kyle, Herman & Morgan, 2022; Kelly, Morgan, Bannard & Matthews, 2020). The impacts of these changes coupled with the child's deafness are one important factor explaining variability in outcome for language development.

Speaker 
Prof. Gary Morgan
City, University of London
Gary Morgan is a developmental Psychologist interested in how early deafness impacts on language and cognitive development. He started his academic career focusing on sign language development in native signers. Then he moved into the area of language and social cognition where he developed an interest in early communication. More recently he started looking at Executive Functions and the role of early communication and language. Currently he is studying the variability in language development following a cochlear implant. In his research and teaching he asks questions about how children develop language, social and cognitive abilities, how these abilities are related and why in some cases this natural development can be disrupted or impaired.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 21 August 2023 (Monday)

This webinar explores why equality law is not working for deaf people, and what can be done to ensure that it does. After a consideration of how deaf people continue to experience inequalities, an attempt is made to ascertain why the framing of deaf people as disabled is problematic, giving rise to what is termed the ‘Deaf Legal Dilemma,’ whereby deaf people are faced with a stark choice: accept the disability label, or have no access to any rights at all. These rights can be divided into Deaf-disabled and language-minority rights. 

The concepts of equality relevant to deaf people are ascertained, utilising a specific methodology that allows a categorisation of these concepts into either formal, substantive or transformative equality. A doctrinal analysis of equality law as they relate to deaf people in the UK is subsequently undertaken, incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights, the Equality Act 2010 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The findings of this analysis are that the Deaf-disabled rights are not effective, and language-minority rights are proposed as a solution.

Speaker 
Dr. Rob Wilks
Cardiff University

Dr Rob Wilks is a non-practising solicitor of England and Wales (UK) who has advised over 2,000 members of the Deaf community on a range of legal issues, mostly relating to employment and discrimination.

He’s currently a lecturer in Professional Law at Cardiff University teaching Business Law and Practice and Employment Law on their Legal Practice Course and was awarded his doctorate in 2020 by the University of Leicester examining the title: ‘Making equality law work for Deaf people..’

He’s recently turned his attention to Deaf education and has published a report with Rachel O’Neill at the University of Edinburgh comparing Welsh- and Gaelic-medium education with that of BSL, putting forward recommendations on how to ensure BSL is taught as part of the new Curriculum for Wales. He has an interest in sign language recognition and is developing Deaf Legal Theory as a new perspective in legal jurisprudence.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 17 August 2023 (Thursday)

Mental health and health related services often do not have the tools they need to accurately assess a culturally Deaf person’s mental state. Adaption of standardised assessments for use with sign language populations require several stages of verification. Stage one is the translation and reliability testing to establish first level validity. Stage two is the performance of the instruments to the target population including verification of the clinical cut-offs. Stage three is evaluation of the effectiveness of their use in practice depending on clinical conditions of delivery. This presentation presents evidence from research addressing each stage, including lessons learned in the adaption, validation and effectiveness testing of the standardised assessments with Deaf signers. Additionally, a research project on the evaluation of effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a mental health intervention delivered to Deaf people will also be discussed.

Speaker 
Dr. Katherine Rogers
The University of Manchester

Dr Katherine Rogers is a Senior Lecturer and a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Post-Doctoral Fellow and has been involved in the Social Research with Deaf people (SORD) group at the University of Manchester since 2006. Her research interests primarily involve issues pertaining to Deaf communities and their families, especially those which promote more positive outcomes. Examples of research projects that she has been involved with include Deaf role models, the mental well-being of d/Deaf people, evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of BSL IAPT, and the validation of standardised psychometric instruments with d/Deaf populations. Click here for her research page: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/katherine.rogers.html

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 31 August 2023 (Thursday) 

Deaf Legal Theory (DLT) is a term that was coined by Bryan and Emery (2014), and they define it as ‘how the law seeks to frame Deaf people’. DLT is a new concept in the field of study known as ‘jurisprudence,’ that is, various critical approaches to law through which a critical examination of legal systems can be made. 

Bryan and Emery argue that for ‘Deaf jurisprudence’ to develop, the current underpinnings of law that are based on incomplete assumptions need to be exposed, and in order to do so, DLT needs to be applied to particular aspects of the law. In the process, the law’s incomplete assumptions of Deaf people will be exposed.

Wilks argues that his doctoral thesis and his post-doctoral research all fit under the DLT umbrella, and he has so far exposed incomplete assumptions in the areas of equality law (Wilks, 2020), sign language interpreters and translation (Wilks, 2022), deaf education (Wilks & O’Neill, 2022; O’Neill & Wilks, 2021), and is now turning his attention to sign language recognition, employment, charitable organisations and the criminal justice system.
 

Speaker 
Dr. Rob Wilks
Cardiff University

Dr Rob Wilks is a non-practising solicitor of England and Wales (UK) who has advised over 2,000 members of the Deaf community on a range of legal issues, mostly relating to employment and discrimination.

He’s currently a lecturer in Professional Law at Cardiff University teaching Business Law and Practice and Employment Law on their Legal Practice Course and was awarded his doctorate in 2020 by the University of Leicester examining the title: ‘Making equality law work for Deaf people..’

He’s recently turned his attention to Deaf education and has published a report with Rachel O’Neill at the University of Edinburgh comparing Welsh- and Gaelic-medium education with that of BSL, putting forward recommendations on how to ensure BSL is taught as part of the new Curriculum for Wales. He has an interest in sign language recognition and is developing Deaf Legal Theory as a new perspective in legal jurisprudence.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 10 August 2023 (Thursday)

黎子鵬教授分享表示︰「知悉獲研資局頒發2023/24年度『人文學及社會科學傑出學者計劃』 的資助，我感到非常興奮和榮幸。這是對我不斷追求卓越研究的認可和動力。作為中華文明的根源，《易經》的文化影響力延展到東亞其他地區，並遠遠超出了歐洲和北美。我的項目將研究《易經》的不同翻譯本，以及對西方宗教和文學的多方面影響，這將有助加深我們對這部中國經典的全球流通和接受程度的理解。」

文學院將繼續支持學院不同領域的學者進行多元化的研究工作，以卓越的研究成果回饋社會。

有關「人文學及社會科學傑出學者計劃」
研究資助局（RGC）人文學及社會科學傑出學者計劃（HSSPFS）於2012/13年度成立，旨在為擁有優良研究成果紀錄的人文學和社會科學學科的資深研究員，提供延長補假及資助，讓他們能專心從事研究和寫作。

GRF旨在為表現卓越或潛質優厚的學者提供額外資助，而ECS則旨在培育新進學者，以助他們為日後的教學及研究事業作好準備。

在2023-24年度，中大文學院獲批資助總金額達1000多萬港元， 當中，GRF 項目的申請成功率增加至44%。我們相信是次增長能促進研究的傳播及質量，並為學術界及其他領域帶來正面的影響。文學院副院長（研究）鄧慧蘭教授祝賀所有獲得資助的申請者，並祝願他們在推動藝術和人文研究的同時，亦為造福社會取得圓滿成功。

在本年度文學院眾多的獲批資助項目中，由語言學及現代語言系莫碧琪教授領導的研究項目(Human vs AI: Speech register and speech accommodation in human-machine interaction)獲得一百四十萬港元撥款。莫教授分享表示：「這是一個涉及人文學科（語言學）和工程學的跨學科研究項目。我將與中大電子工程學系的李丹教授緊密合作，共同完成這個有趣的研究項目。」這項研究將比較粵語使用者在人與人之間互動（HHI）及人與人工智能互動（HMI）中的語言模式。莫教授指出希望透過這項研究，能夠從語言學角度在理解人類、社會和技術相互交織的複雜性中開闢新天地。

文學院將繼續支持學者進行多元化的研究工作，進一步促進個人和協作研究的發展，將不同的研究成果回饋社會，擴大研究效益至非學術領域。

由香港中文大學文學院歷史系梁元生教授和卜永堅教授策劃的「口述歷史計劃」，走訪了六十位在不同年代與中大結緣的人士，包括校友、教員、校工、校巴司機、行政人員及大學管理層成員等，口述筆錄中大六十年來的發展。

歡迎各中大成員及公眾人士於中大圖書館數碼館藏觀看。

網站連結︰https://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/tc/collection/oralhist

是次比賽分為律詩組及對聯組，各設學界及公開組別，歡迎踴躍投稿，截止日期延至2023年9月30日。

講者
李若暉教授 
中國人民大學國學院傑出學者特聘教授

Zoom meeting ID: 993 1478 0191
Passcode: 806354

講者
王仁湘教授（中國社會科學院研究生院教授）
Prof. Wang Renxiang (Professor, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

王仁湘，考古學者、文化學者、中國社會科學院考古研究所研究員、中國社會科學院研究生院教授。主編主撰各類著作一百多種，主要學術著作有《史前中國的藝術浪潮》、《中國史前考古論集》《半窗意象》、《凡世與神界》、《藏王陵》、《混沌初開》、《飲食與中國文化》、《往古的滋味》、《飲食與中國文化》、《束帶矜莊—古代帶鉤與帶扣》、《大仰韶》、《南藩海昏侯》《三星堆考古》《金沙考古》《束帶矜莊——古代帶鈎與帶扣》。