Support Access for Audiovisual Media (SAAM) is an inclusive and innovative language-learning project, supported by the UEA Alumni Fund and led by Dr Carlos de Pablos-Ortega (PPL). It began in response to another successful translation project for new writers, created by an outstanding colleague of ours, Cristina Alonso-Punter. SAAM is open to all students, but targeted more specifically, at students who study audiovisual translation and want to further develop their translation and subtitling skills.

SAAM’s main aim is to provide subtitles for audiovisual materials to mainly, but not exclusively, charitable and non-profit organisations. In this project, video clips from the organisations are subtitled by student volunteers intralingually (English into English), for Deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences, and interlingually – from and into mainly, but not exclusively, English, French or Spanish. Another important goal for SAAM is to increase student confidence and competence in the areas of language translation and subtitling. From a learning experience perspective, SAAM promotes students' creativity, further expanding their existing linguistic skills in both their first and second languages, as well as enhancing students’ employability prospects. 

Since the start of the project, in 2016, SAAM has helped seven organisations at local, national and international levels enabling the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community to engage with local history and help charity workers, locally and in developing countries, by providing subtitles in audiovisual materials. Providing equal opportunities for everyone to participate in all sectors of society and engaging with diverse communities is an important aspect of SAAM’s work. Subtitling clips for New Routes, a local Refugee organisation, has brought UEA students into contact with other cultures, recognising the challenges faced by this sector of our society. SAAM’s work with an American non-profit organisation, Child Protection Toolkit, is being appreciated worldwide. The charity has created film clips to enable field aid workers to recognise signs of child abuse. UEA students have translated these clips from English into French and Spanish and then created subtitles. These clips are now in more than 20 countries, something we are justly proud of. 

The value and impact of the SAAM project was recognised with an individual project award in 2017 as part of the UEA Engagement Award Scheme. In 2018, the project was awarded runner-up in a national competition, held by the Chartered Institute of Linguists’s Threlford Memorial Cup, with a commendation for “Fostering the Study of Modern Foreign Languages”.