Camões Institute Cátedra

Welcome, bem-vind@s!

Welcome to the webpage of Lancaster’s Camões Institute Chair for Multilingualism and Diversity, or Cátedra Camões para o Multilinguismo e a Diversidade in Portuguese.

Here, you will find information about the Lancaster Cátedra, our objectives and our partners, Portugal’s Camões Institute. We regularly publish news items and organize events, which can be found on this website.

The Cátedra was officially launched in June 2023. It is directed by Professor Patrick Rebuschat, a specialist in bilingualism and additional language learning (L2, L3, L4, Ln...), based in Lancaster's Department of Linguistics and English Language.

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About Lancaster’s Cátedra

The Lancaster Cátedra focuses on multilingualism, i.e. our ability to learn and use multiple languages across the lifespan.

Our mission is to promote research on multilingualism and to raise awareness of the benefits of speaking more than one language. Diversity includes, but naturally is not limited to, linguistic diversity.

We do this by organizing academic events (e.g., conferences) and non-academic events (e.g., workshops for parents or teachers), by supporting research on multilingualism, by financially assisting mobility between the UK and Portugal, and by producing materials to disseminate relevant research findings among the general public in a variety of formats (e.g., videos, posters).

The Cátedra was officially launched in June 2023. Our activities are jointly funded by the Camões Institute and the University’s Global Advancement Fund. It is directed by Professor Patrick Rebuschat, a specialist in bilingualism and additional language learning (L2, L3, L4, Ln...).

The Camões Institute established Chairs at many universities throughout the world. In the UK, you can find Cátedras at the universities of Birmingham, Lancaster, King's College London, Manchester, and Oxford. The Lancaster Cátedra is distinctive as it focuses on language.

About the Camões Institute

The Camões Institute is the branch of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is responsible for the promotion of Portuguese language and culture overseas. Click below to learn more about our partners.

A core mission of the Camões Institute is the delivery of Portuguese language classes to the descendants of Portuguese citizens who are residing overseas (Portuguese as a heritage language) and to residents of other countries who wish to learn Portuguese (Portuguese a foreign language). This is accomplished by the maintenance of a network which offers Portuguese heritage and foreign language classes in 76 countries across the world.

In the UK, the Camões Institute heritage language network consists of a team 27 teachers who offer Portuguese as heritage language to over 3,500 students, ages 6 to 17, at 50 schools in the UK. The network is directed by Dr. Cátia Verguete, Attaché for Educational Affairs at the Portuguese Embassy in London. In addition, there are six Camões Institute Chairs (cátedras), four language centers, and 13 endowed lectureships (leitorados) at universities in the UK.

To find out more about the presence of the Camões Institute in the UK, please visit this page.

Who was Camões?

The Camões Institute is named after Luís Vaz de Camões, Portugal’s national poet. He is most well-known for the epic poem Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads, 1572), which celebrates the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama. In 2024, Portugal celebrates the 500th anniversary of the birth of Camões.

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Lancaster and Portugal

Did you know that Lancaster has long-standing ties to Portugal? Today, nearly 190 Portuguese citizens and students are valued members of the Lancaster University community, one of the largest Portuguese student bodies in the UK.

Philippa of Lancaster

Philippa of Lancaster

In 1386, England and Portugal signed the Treaty of Windsor, thus establishing the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in existence. The treaty was sealed by the marriage of King John I of Portugal to Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. Philippa, or Filipa de Lencastre as she is known in Portugal, became an important and well-known figure in Portuguese history.

Portuguese President Mário Soares visits Lancaster

Portuguese President Mário Soares visits Lancaster

In 1986, the President of Portugal, Mário Soares, received an Honorary Doctorate from Lancaster University. The occasion served to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Treaty of Windsor between England and Portugal, but also to celebrate President Soares' important role as a champion of democracy in Portugal.

Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Lisbon in December 2017

The Heritage Language 2 Consortium (HL2C)

The Consortium is a strategic partnership involving six universities (Lancaster, Lisbon, Minho, NOVA, Porto, Tübingen) and Portugal's Camões Institute. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Lisbon in December 2017.

Pictured here in 2018 is Minister of Education Tiago Brandao Rodrigues during his visit to Lancaster.

Over the years, Lancaster has welcomed many distinguished visitors from Portugal

Our guests included scientists, artists, writers, policy makers, academic leaders, and also members of the Portuguese government. Pictured here in 2018 is then Minister of Education Tiago Brandão Rodrigues during his visit to Lancaster.

Lancaster and NOVA University Lisbon formed a strategic partnership in June 2018, when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed.

Strategic partnerships: NOVA Lancaster

Lancaster and NOVA University Lisbon established a strategic partnership in June 2018, when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed. The partnership's core themes are sustainability, digital transformations, and global health.

In June 2023, we celebrated the launch of Lancaster's Camões Institute Cátedra for Multilingualism and Diversity.

Lancaster's Camões Institute Cátedra for Multlingualism and Diversity

In June 2023, we celebrated the launch of Lancaster's Camões Institute Cátedra for Multilingualism and Diversity. Our mission is to promote research on multilingualism and to disseminate findings among academic and non-academic audiences.

Our seminars are free to attend. Simply sign up to the HL2C mailing list to receive the link to join us via Microsoft Teams link.

HL2C / Phonetics Lab Seminar: Qi Zheng (Peking University)

Friday 15 November 2024, 2:00pm to 3:00pm. Topic: Native Phonology, Allophonic Split, and Phonotactic Constraint on L2 Phonolexical Encoding and Further Consolidation of Fuzzy Lexical Representations
An image of many books, published by academics of the Department of Linguistics and English Language.

Public lecture: The Science of Multilingualism

Did you know that the Department of Linguistics and English Language in Lancaster is turning 50 in 2024? To mark the occasion,

Our seminars are free to attend. Simply sign up to the HL2C mailing list to receive the link to join us via Microsoft Teams link.

HL2C Seminar: Eleonora Rossi (University of Florida)

Wednesday 13 November 2024, 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Topic: tbc
Our speakers

A fresh view of the classics: Camões and Shakespeare revisited

Please join us on November 6 to celebrate the quincentennial of Luís de Camões, Portugal’s national poet.
Two girls in science class

Are you and your child interested in participating in an online study on bilingualism?

We are looking for children (ages 4 to 10) who are growing up in the UK with Portuguese and English as their native languages.
A group of students at the central square of Lancaster University.

New study on Brazilian Portuguese: The Multilingual Picture database

Lancaster University is participating in an international project that will contribute a Brazilian Portuguese version to the Multilingual Picture database.

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