After a stint as a lecturer at DCU (Dublin City University) and at the University of the West of England (Bristol), I joined Newcastle University back in 2010. I work in Translation Studies, which I teach at both UG and PG levels, and my research interest lies in the field of translator education.

Here in the School of Modern Languages, I am the Director of the BA Modern Languages, Translation and Interpreting (R9Q9).  Nationally, I am the President of APTIS (Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting Studies, UK & Ireland). I am also a member of  EST-European Society for Translation Studies.

Current Roles and Responsibilities:

School of Modern Languages:

• Degree Programme Director R9Q9 (BA Modern Languages, Translation and Interpreting)
• EMT (European Master's in Translation) Network Lead Contact for the SML (2014-date)

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences:

• UKPSF Professional Standards Advisor (PSA) (2014-date)
  
• Technology-Enhanced Learning Faculty Committee (2020-)

External Roles:

• President of APTIS (2017-date)
  
• External Examiner: MA in Applied Translation, University of Leeds (2019-date)
• External Examiner: MA in Translation (Distance Learning), The Open University (2020-date)
  

Honours and Awards:

• Vice-Chancellor's Education Excellence Award (2016)
• ULTSEC Innovation Fund Awards (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017)
• Faculty Teaching Development Fund (2018, 2019)

Research Interests

I carry out action research in the field of translator education. Recent research projects have focused on employability in translator training (Translation Networks project) and intercultural competence as translator competence (NU InterComs project).

Funded projects

2017-19: ULTSEC-funded Strategic Project "NU InterComs - Developing Intercultural Competence in the University Community" led in collaboration with Sarah Graham (Combined Honours) and Patrick Rosenkranz (Psychology) (£9,990). This two-year, action research project used the latest research in intercultural communication to support the University's internationalisation strategy by creating an active space to work with home and international staff/students that enhances everyone's intercultural competence and delivers an inclusive learning experience.  More specifically, my strand of this innovative project explored and measures the impact of targeted interventions to raise IC awareness on a BA T&I programme over the two-year period.

Current research

Since March 2019, I have been part of a pan-European research project, CATO (Competence Awareness in TranslatiOn), that is looking at ways to measure and increase trainee translators' awareness of the translator competences they are developing while studying on a translation programme.

Esteem indicators

I am a peer reviewer for The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, Translation Studies,Translation Spaces and I also contribute book reviews to JoSTrans.

Module Leader for:

TRI1002 -  Translation Theory & Practice 1 

TRI2002 -  Translation Theory & Practice 2 

TRI4002 - Translation Theory & Practice 3 

SML8024 - Translator Entrepreneur (inactive 2020-21)

SML8025 -  Translating for a Big Institution: The EU - A Case Study (online module, semester 2)

IMiC "Interlingual Mediation in Context - French" (online course on translation as a profession for year abroad students)

Contributor to:

SML7001 - Translation Studies I

SML8012 - Translation Practice and Principles

SML8023 - Profession, Processes and Society in Translating and Interpreting

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Supervision:

- UG dissertation as part of SML4099 Final-Year Dissertation: I welcome enquiries from final year students who would like to complete a dissertation in the field of Translation Studies: translation theory, cultural aspects of translation, professional translating (translation and technology, translation project management, QA procedures etc.). If you're in your second year or doing your year abroad and you're thinking of completing a dissertation in this field, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

- MA dissertations/projects in Translation Studies as part of SML8016 Translation Project and SML8098 Dissertation.

I would be interested in supervising postgraduate students in the field of translator training as well as professional and employment-related aspects of translation.

• Penet JC. Svoboda, Tomáš, Biel, Łucja and Łoboda, Krzysztof (eds) (2017). Quality aspects in institutional translation. Berlin: Language Science Press. JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation 2019, (31), 292-293.
• Penet JC. Jiménez-Crespo, Miguel A. (2017). Crowdsourcing and Online Collaborative Translations. Expanding the limits of Translation Studies. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 304, €90. ISBN 9789027265852. [Book Review]. JoSTrans - Journal of Specialised Translation 2018, (29), 276-277.
• Penet JC. Suojanen, Tytti, Koskinen, Kaisa and Tuominen, Tiina (2015). User-Centered Translation. London and New York: Routledge, 166 pp., £31.99. ISBN 9781138795501. [Book review]. Journal of Specialised Translation 2017, (27), 231-233.
• Penet JC. You're the business - a custom-made business challenge for modern languages students. In: Erika Corradini, Kate Borthwick, Angela Gallagher-Brett, ed. Employability for languages: a handbook. Dublin: Research-Publishing.net, 2016, pp.87-94.
• Penet JC. Cui, Ying and Zhao Wei (2014). Handbook of Research on Teaching Methods in Language Translation and Interpretation. Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 458, $260. ISBN: 978-1-4666-6615-3. Journal of Specialised Translation 2015, (24), 262-264.
• Penet JC. From autonomous to peer e-learning – How the FReE Team turned ePortfolio into a social network between first and final-year modern languages students. In: Borthwick, K.; Corradini, E. ; Dickens, A, ed. 10 years of the LLAS elearning symposium: case studies in good practice. Dublin: Research-Publishing.net, 2015, pp.67-75.
• Penet JC. Les réseaux du « je » de la motivation. Comment améliorer niveau de langue et employabilité par l’intégration d’activités « carrière », à compléter en ligne de manière autonome, à un cours de français L2. In: Équipes, réseaux, communautés : former les compétences individuelles par les engagements relationnels à travers l'apprentissage et l'enseignement des langues. 2013, Lille, France: UPLEGESS.
• Penet JC. The French Debate on National Identity: un nouveau souffle pour Marianne ou Marianne à bout de souffle?. In: Sudlow, B, ed. National Identities in France. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2012, pp.187-202.
• Penet JC. Laïque et indivisible? Secularisation and the Crisis of Republican identity in Contemporary France. In: Lebrun, B; Lovecy, J, ed. Une et indivisible? Plural Identities in Modern France. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010, pp.65-80.
• Penet JC. The Other from Within. The Catholic Church as the Doppelgänger of French Republican Identity. The Irish Journal of French Studies 2009, (7), 97-118.
• Penet JC. Ultramodernity and the Redefinition of Secularisation as the Restructuration of Belief in Contemporary France and Ireland. In: Bévant, E, Maher, E and O'Brien, E, ed. Issues of Globalisation and Secularisation in France and Ireland. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009, pp.163-184.
• Penet JC. Ce téléphone rouge qui nous relie désormais à Dieu. Sécularisme et définition de la rencontre avec l'au-delà revue et corrigée chez les catholiques en France et en Irlande ultramoderne. JOFIS, An E-Journal in Franco-Irish Studies 2008, (1), 111-131.
• Penet JC. Nollaigh Shona ou Bonne Année? Pratique catholique et pratique politique en France et en Irlande postmoderne. In: Maher, E, Neville, G and O'Brien, E, ed. Modernity and Postmodernity in a Franco-Irish Context. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2008, pp.207-222.