NIICTE – Network on Inclusion and Inclusive Communication – was founded in 2021 at the 17th International Pragmatics Conference, IPrA 17. NIICTE is rooted in Linguistic Pragmatics, but aims at a cross-disciplinary approach to inclusion. Its purpose is to strengthen a holistic view on inclusion, one aspect being how linguistic pragmatics can inform practices of inclusion and inclusive communication in higher and tertiary education.
Goals
NIICTE aims to use scientific research and practical action to identify and remove barriers to inclusion in higher education. Tertiary education is a pioneer in educating future professionals and scientists, but it is not entirely inclusive for people with disabilities.
NIICTE invites researchers with and without disabilities from different fields of study to join the network and find solutions for a more inclusive environment.
Impact
Founding members of NIICTE are Christiane Hohenstein, Magdalène Lévy-Tödter, Petra Stemmer, Maija Hirvonen, and Bettina Bock who collaborated in the panel “Inclusion and Inclusive communication at University and Tertiary Education Level“ at IPrA 17.
The network currently consists of 18 members from 8 countries (Belgium, Brazil, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, USA).
Collaboration is based on monthly online meetings where planning of academic exchanges and collaboration between institutions, scheduling of conferences, publications and public events takes place. We also organize face-to-face joint conference presentations and are open for further suggestions.
Steering group: Christiane Hohenstein (ZHAW Winterthur) and Petra Stemmer (KDA in cooperation with University of Cologne)