The Department of Slavonic Studies is involved in a major new research project to study the benefits of multilingualism to individuals and society as part of the Open World Research Initiative led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The project, Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Society, aims not only to understand the experiences of speaking more than one language, but also to change attitudes towards multilingualism and multiculturalism throughout society and amongst key policy-makers. One of the strands of the project — co-led by Dr Rory Finnin, Head of the Department of Slavonic Studies — will explore, among other things, how cultural texts in Ukraine foreground, problematize and inform questions of linguistic diversity and identity in Ukraine's public sphere.