Methodological Excellence in Data-Driven Approaches to Linguistics

The MEDAL consortium project has the ambition to reduce the recognised gap in access to expertise, training and research funding in Linguistics across Europe through a horizontal, network approach to engaging a new generation of researchers in empirically grounded, up-to-the-minute methodology.

The consortium, comprising four highly acclaimed research organisations (Widening country member and coordinator, the University of Tartu, Estonia; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen & Donders Institute at Radboud University, both in the Netherlands; University of Birmingham, UK) who will jointly lead a concerted move to increase the global competitiveness of Linguistics in Europe by bringing together world-class pioneers and early-career researchers, developing excellence in methodological training, and formulating a model of international collaboration on cross-linguistic, cross-modal, cross-disciplinary research.

The project focusses on three clusters of empirically grounded methods which inform state-of-the-art language research: corpus studies, experimental methods, and computational modelling.

The consortium will launch a multi-pronged effort to build better methodological expertise and awareness among the next generation of researchers, offer high-level training schools in the methods included in the project, and engage in the projects collaborative Gold MEDAL Research project, in which early career researchers gain first-hand experience in conceptualising and designing a multi-method research programme, implementing it across a range of languages and modalities, and disseminating the results, leading to increased visibility for all partners.

By 2025, the MEDAL consortium will have developed internal expertise, established a sustainable joint training and research programme and be poised for further collaboration, and the University of Tartu will be an internationally recognised Linguistics research excellence hub for Northern Europe.