Miranda Lai

Associate Professor Miranda Lai

Associate Professor

Details

Open to

  • Masters Research or PhD student supervision
  • Collaborative projects
  • Industry Projects
  • Join a web conference as a panellist or speaker
  • Media enquiries
  • Membership of an advisory committee
  • Mentoring (short-term)

About

Dr Miranda Lai is an associate professor in the Translating and Interpreting discipline and the recipient of 2018 RMIT Award for Research Impacts – Early Career Researcher (Enterprise) and 2023 RMIT Award for Research Engagement and Impact (Team). She is a practitising translator and interpreter, and is one of the rare academics in this disciplinary area who have deep knowledge and extensive experience in both vocational training and higher education.

She has published widely in public service interpreting and delivered training in Australia and overseas. Her research interests include police interpreting, forensic transcription and translation, vicarious trauma for interpreters and translators, ethics for interpreters & translators, and pedagogy of translating & interpreting. 

She has a long track record of engagement with the translating and interpreting industry, the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), and is the current National Secretary of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT).

Research fields

  • 470321 Translation and interpretation studies
  • 4402 Criminology
  • 470212 Multicultural, intercultural and cross-cultural studies

UN sustainable development goals

  • 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  • 4 Quality Education
  • 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Supervisor projects

  • The State of Legal Interpreting in Indonesia
  • 22 Oct 2024
  • Overcoming Language-Related Barriers in the Access of CALD Clients with Dementia to Health Services through Interpreters
  • 28 Nov 2022
  • Towards the Construction of Professionalism in the Interpreting Profession in Saudi Arabia: An analysis of Current Practices, challenges, and Proposed Solutions
  • 23 Nov 2022
  • Translators as Ear Witness: Towards Best Practice in Forensic Translation and Transcription
  • 25 Feb 2022
  • What is Delegation Interpreting: A Study of Chinese-language Delegation Interpreting in the Australian Context through the Conceptual Lens of Trust
  • 16 Apr 2020
  • Mandarin-Speaking Interviewees’ Understanding and Perceptions of Police Interviewing Mediated by Interpreters
  • 12 Mar 2020

Teaching interests

Community interpreting, community translation, legal interpreting, theories of translating & interpreting, extended professional project.

Research interests

Police interpreting, forensic transcription and translation, vicarious trauma for interpreters and translators, ethics for interpreters & translators, pedagogy of translating & interpreting.
aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.