As Northern Ireland works through its Decade of Commemorations (leading up to the centenary of its contested creation in 2021) the challenges facing public bodies to mediate partisan narratives of the past and diffuse associated tension and violence has perhaps never been greater. Commemorative-related violence, the subject of our exploratory award, remains a potent symbol of continuing divisions and has important ramifications for a society in transition. Yet an integral part of transforming this type of violence is engaging with and learning from remembrance practices that do not tend to instigate violence or those places where we found commemorative-related violence to have dissipated throughout the 'post-conflict' years. The city of Derry/Londonderry offers one such example. An outpouring of violence leading up to or following commemorative parades was commonplace throughout the peace process and in the immediate aftermath of the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, but subsided as the years progressed. Unpacking this transformation is key to formulating policies towards shared and ethical remembrance. How might the practices and processes that have occurred in spaces such as this be replicated or managed elsewhere? This follow-on proposal emerged from the outcomes of our exploratory project, 'Place or Past?' and works from the premise that there are examples of good practice within how the past is remembered and commemorated in specific places throughout Northern Ireland. The project found that these are 'exemplary spaces' where commemorative-related violence has disappeared throughout the post-agreement years. With a view to enhance present and future practice and approaches to commemoration, our focus is not on what instigates conflict (the subject of our original project), but rather to engage with, evaluate and share the 'good' practice that has occasioned improved inter-communal relations and non-violence around commemorative activities. The overarching aim of this follow-on proposal therefore is to 'connect' commemorative communities through establishing and profiling an advocacy network of practice that is working in the 'new' Northern Ireland (through the exploitation of our existing research findings) and promote knowledge exchange between those who are involved in commemoration and remembrance and the public bodies who are tasked with responding to and managing commemoration in a post-conflict context working alongside four partners: The Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, the Northern Ireland Community Council and The Junction. The project is led by a team of interdisciplinary academics based in Northern Ireland, at the University of Ulster and Queen's University, Belfast. A series of activities including residential training courses, public engagement events, exhibits and showcases are planned for the 12 month project duration. The primary focus of these activities is to strengthen opportunities for knowledge exchange and network building beyond the academy with the ultimate purpose of transforming negative attitudes, behaviour and relationships around commemoration. A key outcome of the project is to design, establish and disseminate a toolkit for use by public bodies and community organisations. This toolkit will provide a detailed approach of how remembrance and commemoration can be both shared and ethical in its practice. The project is designed to create dialogue with the past, the present and the future. In developing mechanisms for network-building and knowledge exchange in the present, focused on how the past is understood and approached, this project traces a path towards less contentious, less violent and less costly commemorative activities now and in the future. In this way, the Connecting Commemorative Communities team are centrally concerned with caring for the future, through caring for the past.

Understanding the transformative power of multilingualism is vital. Over half of mankind daily speaks more than one language, and multilingualism brings advantages for community relations, business, and global understanding. Yet the linguistic landscape is changing fast, with English increasingly the lingua franca. In the UK, many schools are highly multilingual, despite falling numbers learning languages, and almost 1 in 5 primary school pupils have a first language other than English. Equally integral to a multilingual UK are the regional (minoritized) languages (e.g. Irish, Scottish Gaelic). The decline in pupils taking language GCSEs/A-levels and the number of children with English as an additional language are often portrayed negatively, and the value of community and minoritized languages is underestimated. The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to reflect critically on multilingualism and to transform attitudes through greater understanding. Our approach is holistic, exploring individuals, communities and nations. We analyse the situations giving rise to multilingualism, its social implications and creative possibilities, and relationships between languages, cultures, identities and standards. We explore why individuals/societies choose (consciously or not) to be multilingual, the potential of multilingualism as 'mental gymnastics', ways to optimize language learning, and the benefits of multilingualism for community and international relations. Our research questions: 1. What is the relationship between the multilingual individual and the multilingual society? What does it mean to be multilingual in a monolingual/multilingual society? Or monolingual in a multilingual society? 2. What are the opportunities and challenges presented by multilingualism? How might multilingualism benefit individuals, enhance communities, enrich cultures and foster social cohesion? To what extent might multilingualism disadvantage individuals, divide communities, dilute culture or fragment societies? 3. What is the relationship between multilingualism, diversity and identity? How does this play out at the individual, local, regional, national and international level? 4. What is the relationship between multilingualism and language learning? Who can/should learn additional languages, and in what contexts? How do age and other factors affect motivation, achievement and well-being? 5. How can we influence attitudes towards multilingualism? How can we change the attitudes of individuals and societies, and inform language policy? 6. How can we re-energise Modern Languages research? Can we reinvigorate the discipline by broadening its scope and developing new interdisciplinary methodologies? Intersecting research strands (S1-6) offer powerful case studies for understanding multilingualism: literature, film and culture in a globalized context; the role of standard languages; linguistic identity, diversity and social cohesion; the influence of multilingual identity on foreign language learning; language learning across the lifespan; the cognitive benefits of multilingualism. The project spans major languages traditionally or newly studied in the UK (French, German, Mandarin, Spanish), minoritized languages in Europe (Catalan, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Ukrainian), and community languages (e.g. Cantonese, Polish, Punjabi). We seek to break down barriers between high/low status and home/learnt languages. The project will have transformative outcomes for individuals, for education, health and social policy and practice, and for international relations. Our partners (community groups, educational, cultural and policy bodies, drama and creative writing groups, business) will help shape the research and disseminate outcomes. Placing language-led research at its heart, literary-cultural studies are integrated into an exciting new interdisciplinary programme to show how Modern Languages can respond to key issues of our time.