Further International Expansion for SAAM Project
Very exciting news for the SAAM Project which has recently expanded its international collaboration, with a new partner university in Spain, Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO) in Seville.
Earlier in the current academic year, Dr Carlos de Pablos-Ortega, SAAM Project founder and leader, began a new partnership with Prof. Mª José Rodriguez-Ruiz, Professor of Audiovisual Translation at UPO. Dr de Pablos-Ortega recently visited the university, met the group of volunteers and delivered a subtilting workshop to all students completing the module with Prof. Rodriguez-Ruiz. The workshop was very well received and the following participants’ comments regarding the elements they enjoyed the most during the session: “I really enjoyed the interaction with the lecturer. He made us feel confident”; “It was great to put the theoretical aspects into practice, using real film clips. This made me realise that subtitling is not an easy task for reasons of space, style, format, etc.”; “I enjoyed the clarity of the explanations and the strategies learned to subtitle”; “The workshop was very dynamic and collaborative including spontaneous tasks and questions”.
As part of the visit to Spain, Dr de Pablos-Ortega also met the SAAM Project Coordinators at Universidad de Alcalá, in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Mariya Yordanova and Isabel García, Coordinators as well as the SAAM Project volunteers. Everyone had the opportunity to take part in an audiovisual translation workshop where they discussed the subtitling work they have been completing for the charity “It Gets Better”.
During this trip, Dr de Pablos-Ortega had also the opportunity to meet Mr Tomás Loyola Barberis, President of “It Gets Better”, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit. During the meeting, Dr de Pablos-Ortega learned specific details about the charity’s main mission: to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth around the globe.
Dr de Pablos-Ortega also met Mr José Manuel Gómez Pérez, a volunteer from ONGAWA Ingeniería para el Desarrollo Humano (Engineering for Human Development). This is a new charity whose focus is to put technology at the service of human development in order to build a fairer and more charitable society.
SAAM is an innovation project that brings together staff, students and industry partners to develop professional skills as well as disseminating university expertise for the benefit of a wide range of organisations. Since its inception in 2016, SAAM has collaborated with sixteen local, national and international organisations, providing invaluable translation and subtitling assistance to small charities and NGOs. These visits to partner universities and NGOs in Spain were possible thanks to the support of the Higher Education Innovation Funding and to the invaluable support of Dr Ben Little, Associate Dean of Engagement and Innovation (HUM).
First SAAM Project Volunteers at Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville with project leader Dr Carlos de Pablos-Ortega.
Dr Carlos de Pablos-Ortega delivering the subtilting workshop to UPO students.
Prof. Mª José Rodriguez-Ruiz with subtitling workshop attendees and Dr Carlos de Pablos-Ortega
SAAM Project Coordinators at Universidad de Alcalá (Madrid), Isabel García and Mariya Yordanova, with two volunteers and Dr Carlos de Pablos-Ortega.
