The Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences will hold its seventh Annual International Translation Conference on March 28-29 at the Qatar National Convention Centre.  The college has also released the names of the prominent speakers for the conference.
The conference aims to create a Gulf-based platform for discussing issues related to translation.
Details have been released outlining the workshops, panels, seminars, and keynote addresses for the conference. The conference this year features a series of talks offered by elite experts.
Dima Khatib, a journalist, writer and translator and currently the managing director of AJ+, Al Jazeera’s multi-lingual online digital channel, will present a talk titled ‘Challenges in the Digital World’. Dima has been classified among the most influential Arab women on social media since 2011.
Another speech, titled ‘Giving Voice to Arab Events: Communication, Politics and Relative Truths’, will be delivered by Shiekh Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi, a United Arab Emirates-based columnist whose articles have appeared in the Financial Times, Independent, Guardian, Huffington Post, and The New York Times.
Dr Aline Remael, who is the chair of department, head of research, and professor of translation theory, interpreting and audiovisual translation at the University of Antwerp, will offer a keynote address titled ‘Audiovisual Translation as a Tool for Empowerment.’  
The conference will also feature Dr Henri Awaiss, dean of the Faculty of Languages of Saint Joseph University –Beirut, whose talk is entitled ‘Dichotomies in Translation Studies.’ His presentation contributes to thinking, from a translation point of view, about a series of dichotomies.
Conference attendees will benefit from a variety of seminar choices, including “TranslationQ and RevisionQ”, in which Dr Dirk Verbeke will talk about how technology can help translation evaluation be more objective and more efficient.
Additionally, three workshops held at the conference will focus on professional translation, revision and quality assurance, and the teaching of writing in Arabic.
From the 107 abstracts the college received, 32 abstracts  were selected and panellists will be attending from Egypt, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, China, Iran, Turkey, Belgium, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Canada and the United States.
Dr Amal al-Malki, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, noted “The theme of this conference ‘Politics of Translation: Representations and Power’ is yet more proof that the field of translation is interdisciplinary by nature.
The conference brings under one roof Arab and international scholars, opinion writers, media personalities, political commentators and professionals from different backgrounds within humanities and social sciences.”