Maartje De Meulder

I am a Belgian deaf scholar and currently senior researcher at HU – University of Applied Sciences Utrecht in the Netherlands. I am also a Honorary Research Fellow at SIGNS@HWU at Heriot-Watt University.

My research focus is on Deaf Studies, with a particular and interdisciplinary focus on sign language policy and planning, sign language technologies, and Sign Language Interpreting Studies. My research roadmap addresses contemporary societal challenges faced by deaf communities.

My work has been published in a range of different journals such as Language Policy, Applied Linguistics Review, The Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Human Rights Quarterly, and Translation and Interpreting Studies. I have co-edited Innovations in Deaf Studies (Oxford University Press, 2017) and The Legal Recognition of Sign Languages (Multilingual Matters, 2019), and have been a guest editor of several special issues of journals.

I am passionate about supporting the development of Deaf Studies as an academic field of research and teaching. As the current coordinator of MADS, an Erasmus Mundus Design Measure program, I am exploring the establishment of a new joint international Master in Applied Deaf Studies, together with deaf colleagues from different universities in Europe and the UK.

I am dedicated to supporting capacity building of deaf scholars, both students and early career researchers, through my involvement in the dr Deaf workshops. I think it’s an exciting time to be a member of a vibrant international network of deaf researchers.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Namur (via a “MOVE-IN Louvain” Incoming post-doc Fellowship funded by the Marie Curie actions of the European Commission). I have a PhD from the University of Jyväskylä (department of Languages), an MSc in Deaf Studies from the University of Bristol, and an MA in Disability Studies from the University of Ghent.

Contact: maartje.demeulder@hu.nl