This Wednesday, the EUTOPIA Alliance held the second edition of the 'Multilingualism and Diversity' Student Conference in a virtual format. The conference serves as a platform for students to present their research in this field and included the participation of several students from the Pompeu Fabra University.

After the opening of the conference by Jo Angouri, Head of the "Multilingualism and Diversity" Connected Community at EUTOPIA, participants from the 'Multi-Div' program, a two-week research intensive at the University of Warwick, presented their research.

Throughout the day, students selected by the Connected Community presented their research projects. In the theme of "Communication in the Professional World," Xinyu Chi from UPF presented "Healthcare Experience of Chinese Immigrants in Barcelona: Interpretation and Interculturality," highlighting healthcare attendance figures among the Chinese population in Barcelona.

The first afternoon session, focusing on "Language Choices in Intercultural Contexts," featured presentations of two UPF student research projects. Nengjing Ren presented "Multilingualism at Catalan Universities from the Perspective of Chinese L1 Students Studying Abroad," which delved into the language choices of Chinese exchange students in Catalonia. The research highlighted their preference for English within the university setting, while Catalan and Spanish were more prominent in interactions with the local community.

On the other hand, Alba Pérez and Mar Oller presented "Integration of US Exchange Students into Catalan Culture and Language," discussing a group of American exchange students in Barcelona. The research pointed out that the program through which these students come to Pompeu Fabra often leads to interactions mainly among themselves and not much integration into Catalan society.

The conference also included keynote sessions and specific lectures with speakers from four universities, both within the EUTOPIA community —Vrije Universitat Brussel and UPF— and outside —Federal University of Technology (Brazil) and California State University (USA). Connections were established from various parts of the world, including South Africa, Hungary, Syria, and Australia.

Sara Larios, a UPF student and one of the organizers, emphasized the significance of having an event like this Wednesday's conference and highlighted that it was the students who drove the initiative forward. She stated, "We've been organizing this conference since January, and we're very pleased with the outcome."