A research group dedicated to language-related policy issues including language dynamics, language policy evaluation, economics of language, and language rights.
About Real
The Research Group Economics and Language (REAL) was hosted from 2011 to 2019 at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in Germany.
During this period the members of REAL were:
- Bengt-Arne Wickström
- Michele Gazzola
- Torsten Templin
- Sabrina Hahm
- Cyril Brosch
Since 2020, the group has been attached to the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences at Ulster University. Michele Gazzola is the current coordinator of the group. In 2021, the group was renamed Research Group Economics, Policy Analysis and Language (REAL).
After the move, the group has become an open international network of researchers interested in the economics of languages and language policy. Researchers affiliated to the REAL network can publish their contributions in the multilingual REAL-working papers series.
New Events organised/ co-organised
2026
- Potsdam, Germany, 4-5 June - Sixth REAL symposium on language economics and policy - download the call for papers
Past Research Projects
The REAL group was involved in the following research projects:
- Mobility and Inclusion in a Multilingual Europe (MIME) – 2014-2018
- Language Policy and Linguistic Justice in the European Union (LAPO) - 2011-2015
- Towards an index of linguistic justice – 2013
Past Events organised/ co-organised
2024
- Tarragona, Spain, 3-4 June, “Fifth biannual REAL symposium : “Human Capital, Languages, and New Literacies: Theories, Policies, and Impacts“
2022
- Budapest, 16-17 June 2022, Symposium “Rules and incentives in language policy and planning: Economic, legal and sociolinguistic approaches”
2018
- Berlin 8 March : Lecture: „Esperanto in Costa Rica: Akademische Entwicklung der Internationalen Sprache“
2017
- Berlin 12-13 October : Colloquium: Language Skills for Economic and Social Inclusion
- San José 31 July – 4 August : Summer School : Linguistic Policy, Linguistic Planning and Evaluation
- London 3 July : Colloquium : Language Policy and Planning in Multilingual Organisations: Exploring Language Regimes
2015
- Berlin 02–03 March : Colloquium : Economics, Linguistic Justice and Language Policy
2013
- Venice 26-27 July : Colloquium: The Economics of Language Policy
| Name | Main Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Michele Gazzola | Ulster University |
| Daniele Mazzacani | Ulster University |
| Bengt-Arne Wickström | Andrássy-Universität Budapest |
| Torsten Templin | |
| François Vaillancourt | Université de Montréal and Fellow,CIRANO |
| Katalin Buzasi | Radboud University Nijmegen |
| Ramon Caminal | Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (IAE-CSIC) Barcelona |
| François Grin | Université de Genève |
| Marco Civico | Université de Genève |
| Till Burckhardt | Université de Genève |
| Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll | Università di Torino |
| Eva Markowsky | Universität Potsdam |
| Ida Pinho | Royal Institute of Technology |
Former members
- Sabrina Hahm
- Cyril Robert Brosch
Reports and Publications
If you are interested in submitting a working paper in the REAL series, please download the guidelines.
