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THE SLI TEACHING TEAM

Peter Llewellyn-Jones (Director of Learning Programmes)


A founder member of the Register of Interpreters, Peter has headed the interpreting services for both the British Deaf Association and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and has extensive experience of community, legal, medical, conference, television and theatre interpreting. He co-founded the University of Bristol sign language and interpreting research team (now the Centre for Deaf Studies) and has taught at the universities of Durham and Wolverhampton. Peter has been employed as a consultant to organisations and universities worldwide and acted as the ‘expert advisor’ on interpreting to European Commission Leonardo/Socrates projects. As well as being the Managing Director of SLI, he is also a Senior Teaching Fellow and Programme Director at the Leeds University Centre for Translation Studies. In January 2009 Peter was appointed to the Editorial Board of the new International Journal of Interpreter Education.  In July 2010, in recognition of his 'outstanding achievements' in the field of sign language interpreting, Peter was awarded an Honourary Fellowship by the University of Central Lancashire.

Robert G Lee (Course Leader - UCLan)

After a brief spell as a visiting Senior Lecturer in Deaf Studies in 2004-2005, Robert returned to UCLan in 1998 to take up a permanent post as Course Leader of the Postgraduate Diploma and MA programmes in Interpreting and Translation.  Robert has worked as an American Sign Language-English Interpreter for over twenty years in a variety of settings, specialising in medical situations.  He holds an MA in Applied Linguistics from Boston University and has taught Interpreting and Linguistics at Northeastern University in Boston as well as in seminars all over the US, Canada, the UK and Europe.  In addition he has taught online courses for training Interpreting Mentors.  Robert has authored or co-authored a variety of articles and chapters on both Interpreting and the linguistics of American Sign Language.  He is a co-author of the MIT Press book, The Syntax of American Sign Language: Functional Categories and Hierarchical Structure.

 

Jayne Clarke (Course Administrator and Admissions Officer)


Jayne was the personal assistant to the vice-principals of Hartlepool College before becoming, in 1997, the administrator of the Durham University Deaf Studies Research Unit. She joined SLI as ‘office manager’ in April 1999 and, in November of the same year, was asked to take overall responsibility for the administration of SLI. Jayne is now a shareholder and the company secretary of SLI Ltd.
 

Jason Bell

Jason originally qualified as a social worker in 1996 and has worked in the charity sector for over 20 years. In 2002 he gained a Masters in Ethics from Keele University exploring the code of ethics for sign language interpreters. Jason graduated via the SLI/UCLAN Postgraduate Diploma in 2009 and has more than 12 years experience working as an interpreter. He is a founder member of Signing Network, an interpreting co-operative in Leicester that mainly provides community/public service interpreting.

Emily Copping


Emily studied for her BA (Hons) at Wolverhampton University before moving on to the University of Leeds for postgraduate study, graduating in 2008 with a Masters Degree in Interpreting (with Distinction).  A Member of the Register of Interpreters, Emily has experience of working in conference and legal (Crown Court) settings but mainly concentrates on community/public service interpreting.  One of Emily’s specialist interests is quality in BSL-English translation.

Catriona Howard

Catriona originally trained as a conference interpreter but quickly found that she preferred the ‘human face’ of public service interpreting.  Although she now interprets in a wide range of settings - including the European Parliament (French-Spanish-English) - she specialises in Francophone-African immigration and asylum cases.  In 2010 Cat was appointed Programme Director of the MA in Conference Interpreting and Translation Studies (European languages) at the University of Leeds Centre for Translation Studies.

Heidi Koivisto


Born in Finland, Heidi is fluent in Finnish Sign Language, British Sign Language, Finnish and English. She has a degree in Cultural Management and Production and has years of experience in working in deaf organisations in both Finland and the UK. Heidi has settled down in Preston with her partner Lee (see below) and their two cats. In her free time she loves sewing, crafts and baking.

Linda Richards


Linda has been a colleague of Peter’s since the mid 1970s and is one of the most experienced and respected sign language interpreters in the country. In the mid-1980s, she established CitiServices in London and set up the first formal interpreter training course to be recognised by the CACDP. Concerned that her theoretical knowledge should be current, she has recently gained a Masters degree (with distinction) in interpreting studies. Linda is probably best known for her ten years or so as head of BSL-English translation and on-screen interpreting for the BBC.

Lee Robertson


A first-language BSL user, Lee was brought up in Edinburgh, gained a degree in aeronautical engineering from Kingston University, London, and now lives in Preston with his partner Heidi (see above). Having travelled extensively, Lee is currently setting up his own business and has a lot of experience of working with interpreters both in educational and professional settings. Lee has taught and assessed interpreters for SLI and Leeds University since 2006.

Maria Sykes


Maria is Senior Education Interpreter for the Calderdale Specialist Inclusion Service in Halifax. She heads the communication team (which includes two Deaf Instructors) and oversees the training of Communication Support Workers in educational settings in Calderdale. With more than fourteen years of CSW/interpreting experience, she is particularly keen to raise the standard of interpreting and communication support in schools. A Member of the Register of Sign Language Interpreters, Maria qualified via the SLI/UCLAN Postgraduate Diploma in 2004.
 

One-Eye


An integral part of the tutorial team since 2008.