In January 2022, UST won the bid to host the 16th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguistics (IAFLL) in 2023.
“As academics, we should always be updated in our field. This is the reason why we go out of the country, attend and present papers in conferences and network with fellow linguists. I have always wanted to teach my students something new. It is my task to update them with what is happening in the field of linguistics. In the past, UST was only known for literature but never in linguistics or language studies. Now, people associate Forensic Linguistics with UST and it is something that makes us feel good because that means that we are contributing something to Philippine linguistics,” said Faculty of Arts and Letters Dean Prof. Marilu R. Madrunio, Ph.D., whose expertise is in forensic linguistics.
Ever since the bid was approved, preparations for the conference are underway. “We want to make the event a great success just like in 2016 when some giants in FL came to Manila. They always spoke highly of us—that we were very organized and that the papers presented were scholarly, that the conference was memorable because of the socials, and that the post-event was full of fun since we brought our guests to Intramuros and had dinner together,” said Dr. Madrunio. The Dean also shared that when hosting an international conference, it is highly significant to pay attention to even the finest details so that everything transpires smoothly. “It is a lot of work for us, but we do it for the love of linguistics and for the love of UST and the Department of English.”
The biennial conference is scheduled to take place on July 4 to 6, 2023. Prominent forensic linguists are expected to attend the biennial conference. The international conference will be held back-to-back with the 13th International Summer School in Forensic Linguistic Analysis (ISSFLA) which will offer basic and advanced courses for five days in FL headed by Dr. Krzysztof Kredens of the Aston Institute of Forensic Linguistics (AIFL) and Dr. Isabel Picornell, incumbent president of IAFLL. Advanced courses include the following: 1.) Status and role of the linguistic expert witness; 2.) Professional ethics; 3.) Report Writing; 4.) Advances in linguistics of the individual; 5.) Advances in police interviewing; and 6.) Dark Web Linguistics.
The 15th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Forensic and Legal Linguists was held fully online at Aston University in Birmingham, UK, on September 13 to 15, 2021. Confirmed plenary speakers of the 16th IAFLL include Prof. Tim Grant of Aston University in UK, Dr. Jennifer Glougie of the British Columbia Labour Relations Board in Canada, Dr. Nathalie Schilling of Georgetown University in the US, Dr. Isabel Picornell, President of the International Association of Forensic and Legal Linguists, Dr. Richard Powell of Nihon University in Japan and Dr. Susanto of the Universitas Bandar Lampung in Indonesia. The UST organizing team is headed by Dr. Madrunio with her core team composed of Dr. Rachelle Lintao, chair of the Department of English, Dr. Alejandro Bernardo, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Atty. Selenne Leynes, faculty of the English Department, Dr. Shielanie Dacumos and Prof. Zeneida Reyes, former graduate students of the PhD English Language Studies program and Ma. Kaela Madrunio, President of the 3rd year English Language Studies program.
