English Studies Research Seminars Broaden Disciplinary Horizons in a Pleasant Atmosphere

The research seminar series began in the spring semester of 2024 with the aim of introducing ongoing research in the field by bringing together people fascinated by the study of the English language, literature and culture, as well as translation and teaching. Our goal was to create an open and supportive space for discussion that would extend beyond everyday classroom work. Over the course of two years, these meetings have developed into a much-anticipated and inspiring seminar series that resonates with colleagues outside English studies and attracts guests from beyond the university—and even beyond Estonia.

The seminars have been diverse in content and broad in theme, much like contemporary English studies itself. Our research interests extend far beyond British and American literature and classical linguistics. We explore the wider English-speaking world and the world connected through English—that is, the “Anglosphere”—as a cultural, linguistic, and historical network encompassing societies on different continents, their literatures and language practices, and the interactions between them. The research topics in the English studies field at UT align closely with vibrant trends in today’s academic world, including environmental humanities, gender studies, post- and decolonial approaches, and the digital dimensions of language and translation studies.

The opening seminar of the series (4 April 2024) featured Dr Miriam McIlfatrick-Ksenofontov with a presentation titled “Ciaran Carson’s Mapping of the Inert in Translating Rimbaud’s Illuminations.” Focusing on the specificities of the translation process and comparing the original text to a landscape and translation drafts to the mapping of that landscape, the presentation introduced translation as a creative and experimental process in which failures are often a prerequisite for progress.

Issues of language contact and language change were addressed by Dr Jesús Fernández-Domínguez from the University of Granada (Spain) in his talk “A Contrastive Look at False Anglicisms in Romance Languages” (16 April 2024). He demonstrated how apparent anglicisms influenced by English function differently in various Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian) and what this reveals about interlingual relations in contemporary Europe.

A presentation by the head of the field, Professor Julia Kuznetski, titled “Too Burning for Fiction? Women Writing Non-Fiction in Times of Crisis” (22 May 2024), highlighted the observation that several well-known women writers, previously best known for their novels, had recently turned unanimously to essay writing. Drawing on examples from Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, and Zadie Smith, the talk explored how crises—from the pandemic and the rise of artificial intelligence to climate change—affect literary forms and the authorial position.

The theme of crisis continued into the autumn semester. Visiting researcher Anupam Kamal Sen from the University of Joensuu (Finland) examined the dystopian novel as a means of making sense of contemporary political and ecological crises in his presentation “The Art of Living within the Prospect of Dystopia” (9 October 2024).


A historical linguistic perspective was introduced by our lecturer in linguistics, Dr Alpo Honkapohja, whose talk “Lockdown Lexicon during the Black Death” (30 October 2024) analysed the vocabulary used in medieval and early modern England during the time of the Black Death. It emerged that terms that became widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic—such as social distancing, lockdown, and quarantine—are by no means new; as is well known, everything new is often a well-forgotten old. To investigate which words were used before 1600 when discussing restrictions on movement to curb the spread of the plague, the researcher applied modern methods, namely digital corpus analysis, thereby building a bridge between past and present and contributing to research on permacrisis as a focal theme in the field.

Themes of digital language research and corpus linguistics were further developed by Dr Turo Vartiainen from the University of Helsinki in his presentation “Enriched Corpora Sources for Linguistic Research” (6 May 2024). He focused on how to combine the strengths of traditional, carefully compiled language corpora with contemporary big-data-based linguistic resources. Vartiainen demonstrated that while large corpora make it possible to study rare linguistic phenomena, meaningful analysis often requires additional enrichment with metadata—either manually or through computational methods. The presentation offered the audience valuable insight into how modern linguistics balances quantitative and qualitative approaches.

In the field of translation studies, significant contributions were made by guest speakers Dr Juho Suokas and Professor Esa Penttilä from the University of Eastern Finland, who presented their ReTra research project in the talk “Dimensions of Translation and Multilingualism in Research Work” (16 April 2025). The presentation highlighted the often-overlooked role of multilingualism and translation in academic research, where so-called para-professional translation is frequently practiced, and emphasised the need to increase researchers’ sensitivity and awareness regarding translation. Particularly engaging was the discussion on how translation competence can be consciously developed and supported in research work.

Our colleagues from the translation department, Dr Triin van Doorslaer and Associate Professor Mari Uusküla, focused on issues related to machine translation and artificial intelligence in higher education in their presentation “Translating Responsibility: Explaining Machine Translation Literacy Among Non-Translation Students” (19 November 2024), based on an empirical study conducted at Tallinn University and the University of Tartu. The speakers analysed how students perceive machine translation, its risks and opportunities, as well as the ethical, cognitive, and environmental aspects associated with the use of such technology. The presentation underscored the need for clearer guidelines and rules and opened up broader questions of responsibility in the digital age.

Themes of literary reception and cultural experience were in focus in researcher Ruslana Dovhanchyna’s presentation “The Reception of Hemingway’s War Fiction in the USA, Ukraine and Estonia” (15 October 2024). The experimental study examined how students living in different cultural and geopolitical contexts experience Ernest Hemingway’s war fiction. Particularly striking was the conduct of the study during wartime in Ukraine, which lent the interpretation of the results a strong societal dimension.

Connections between culture and the body were explored by junior researcher Iveta Aare in her presentation “Human Vulnerability and Emotional Sensitivity: Examples of Bodily Emotion Work in Body-Horror Cinema” (18 December 2024). Analysing contemporary English-language body-horror films, Aare discussed cinema’s capacity to depict “inappropriate” emotions and human vulnerability. The presentation offered an intriguing perspective on the bodily experience of emotions and the audience’s relationship with uncomfortable yet deeply human themes.

Literary-historical and gender-studies perspectives were combined in Dr Ksenia Shmydkaya’s presentation “Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Queer Historical Realism” (4 June 2025), which introduced the fluently readable and historically accurate writings of an unjustly little-known yet outstanding British author that foreground queer themes in a historical context. The talk emphasised how Warner’s perspective broadens representations of history and brings to light stories and experiences that often remain outside mainstream historiography.

Amplifying marginalised voices was also the aim of junior researcher Pierangelly Del Rio Martinez’s presentation “Environmental Activism, Memory, and Life-Writing” (17 December 2025) at the end-of-year seminar in 2025. She examined the interweaving of environmental activism, memory, and life writing in a broader international context. Pierangelly analysed memoirs by environmental activists from various regions, including the USA, Africa, Canada, and other Anglophone cultural spaces, and demonstrated how environmental crises are closely linked to colonial legacies, social inequality, and the experiences of marginalised communities. Through personal narratives, both ecological and political tensions—often overlooked in global environmental debates—are brought into view.

Initially, the seminars were primarily intended for researchers and doctoral candidates, but over time we have increasingly seen the curious faces of master’s and bachelor’s students among the audience. It is precisely this diverse audience that has shaped the seminars into a vibrant and inspiring meeting place where theoretical depth goes hand in hand with accessible presentation. Researchers gain a closer understanding of one another’s topics and findings, while students broaden their horizons and gain valuable insight into the holistic structure of a scholarly article—from research questions to data analysis and, finally, the presentation of results to colleagues.

In addition to substantial presentations and discussions, the atmosphere has been one of the key strengths of the English studies research seminars. These meetings do not rigidly follow a “presentation and questions” format, but instead strive for lively dialogue. They also provide an opportunity to build academic connections and to feel part of a vibrant scholarly community. A considerable number of speakers have been international guests, for example from Finland and Spain; visitors have also come from Scotland, Ukraine, and beyond the university world, including the British Embassy in Estonia.

And, as participants add with a smile, good conversations often really get going around the coffee table. Yes, there were always plenty of refreshments.

Although the year 2025 has now come to an end, the English studies research seminar series will continue, with much of interest still ahead. In the spring semester, we will focus on language-teaching methodology and the history of language education, and we will also take a look at a rapidly developing and increasingly important field—medical humanities—where culture, ethics, and health-related experiences meet through storytelling and writing.