The Aberlangs team has been awarded new research funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and from the University Council for Languages. Both projects start in September 2025.
The Aberlangs team are pleased to have been awarded a UCFL Small Grant for their project 'Aberlangs in a Box'. This funding from the University Council for Languages will underpin outreach in schools around multilingualism in Aberdeen and beyond. The project builds on research interviews mapping multilingualism in Aberdeen and celebrating multilingualism as a positive force, as part of the Aberlangs City of Languages initiative launched by the University of Aberdeen. This reflects the unique cultural and international heritage of the North East of Scotland, linked to the presence of Doric and Gaelic, as well as the maritime and energy sector, and a broad range of migration and trading contexts. The project will underpin collaborations with local schools and the broader public to raise awareness of the value of languages, and offer a platform to celebrate multilingualism in our communities.
The team is also delighted to have been awarded a prestigious Research Collaboration Grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh for a new University of Aberdeen interdisciplinary research initiative. The project, entitled Beyond English: Investigating multilingualism in North-East Scottish schools is led by Dr Dawn Leslie from Language & Linguistics, in collaboration with Dr Fransiska Louwagie (French) and Dr Colin Christie (Education). The project runs from September 2025 to December 2026 and will explore the evolving multilingual landscape of schools in the North-East of Scotland.
By working closely with educational stakeholders (including local authorities, school communities, and national organisations), the newly funded study will evaluate the presence and perceptions of multilingualism in the region’s schools. The experiences of teachers, pupils and parents will be sought to form a well-rounded understanding of linguistic diversity in these school settings. The researchers will also investigate curricular and extracurricular approaches to multilingualism through a series of workshops with teachers.
The project is the latest endeavour from the Aberlangs research collective at the University of Aberdeen which brings together researchers with an interest in languages and the local context. Aberlangs positions Aberdeen as Scotland’s first ‘City of Languages’ – aligned with an initiative spearheaded by the British Council established to promote language learning and celebrate multilingualism as an important cultural asset. This RSE-funded project will culminate in a final symposium which will bring together experts from other Cities of Languages in the UK to share their experiences with local language practitioners.
These research initiatives follow on from the Aberlangs project ‘Mapping Multilingualism: Images and Stories of Languages in the North East‘, funded by an Aberdeen Humanities Fund Staff Research Award in 2024. This project maps and present images and stories of of multilingual practices and identities in Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland, with a view to examining historical and contemporary dimensions of the region’s rich linguistic landscape. It focuses on endogenous languages (including Scots, Doric and Gaelic) and also examines the way in which the region has been enriched by different exogeneous languages throughout its history, up until today. This is linked to Aberdeen’s multiple heritages, from maritime trade and migration, to the oil and gas and tourism industry. The project includes public engagement initiatives emphasising both the cultural and economic value of languages for the region and its futures.