Skip to main content
Suomeksi

Maija Hirvonen

Professor, saksan kieli, kulttuuri ja kääntäminen
Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences | Language Studies | German
Tampere University
maija.hirvonen [at] tuni.fi (maija[dot]hirvonen[at]tuni[dot]fi)
+358503182503
City Centre Campus
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7631-1310

About me

I am full professor in German language, culture and translation at the Languages Unit of the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences of Tampere University. I lead BA, MA and PhD studies in German linguistics and translation. I am director of Langnet, the Network of Doctoral Programmes in Language Sciences in Finland. I sit in the steering board for Plural (the multidisciplinary research centre for languages and cultures). I co-lead Tampere Accessibility Unit and the Multimodality in Translation and Interpreting research group.

In research, I specialise in 

  • accessibility (esp. audio-description)
  • multimodal and intermodal translation and interpreting
  • blind-sighted and other asymmetrical interaction
  • teamwork
  • distributed/interactive intelligence and the interface of cognition and interaction
  • human-centered machine learning (esp. machine perception, automatic video description, audio captioning)

I teach advanced- or intermediate-level courses in German language, translation studies, and accessibility. I supervise MA and PhD theses; Promotionsvorhaben zu den oben genannten Themenbereichen in den Fächern Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft und Translatologie sind besonders willkommen!

Responsibilities

Head of German studies in the Languages BA and MA programs and in the MA program of multilingual communication

Co-leader of TACCU (Tampere Accessibility Unit)

Co-leader of MULTI (Multimodality in Translation and Interpreting research group)

Director of Langnet, the Network of Doctoral Programmes in Language Sciences in Finland

Founding member of NIICTE (international Network of Inclusion and Inclusive Communication in Tertiary Education)

Project links

Research topics

accessibility (esp. audio-description), multimodal and intermodal translation and interpreting, blind-sighted interaction, teamwork, distributed cognition and the interface of cognition and interaction, human-centered machine learning (esp. machine perception, automatic video description, audio captioning)

Research fields

linguistics, translation studies

Funding

Current funding: NewWorkTech (From the margins to the masses: Standard practices and innovative uses of technology in augmenting different abilities in the world of work). Horizon Europe research and innovation action, 2024-2027.

Selected publications

See publications and other research activities at the university's research portal.

Latest publications

All publications