This project aims to initiate collaborations between seven higher education institutions with a view of setting up a new joint Master programme in Applied Deaf Studies (MADS). While the field of Deaf Studies has innovated and expanded especially in the past 10 years, this has not yet been translated into an expansion of postgraduate study opportunities in Deaf Studies. This is the first gap that we address with the MADS programme. Research findings need to be connected to a postgraduate teaching program able to innovate professional practice connected to deaf people, deaf communities and sign languages. This is the second gap that we address with the MADS programme. MADS is unique in two ways. First, this MA programme is a deaf-led, international, collaborative Master’s, building on the specialisations of the scholars and institutions that are involved. Second, in response to the abovementioned gap between scholarship and professions, MADS is a course in “Applied Deaf Studies” rather than “Deaf Studies” per se, in order to offer students skills for professional practice. Indeed, for new findings to travel into professions such as education, social services, interpreting/translation and advocacy, we need professionals who work with deaf people, such as teachers, health workers, social workers and interpreters/translators, to have opportunities to study the latest research findings in Deaf Studies, so that they can consider how to apply such information in their practice and service planning and organisation. While the programme is open to all students, it specifically focuses on recruiting deaf students worldwide, since this group traditionally has had more barriers and fewer opportunities to access higher education, and more specifically Deaf Studies programmes. This is the third gap that we address with the MADS programme.
This project aims to initiate collaborations between seven higher education institutions with a view of setting up a new joint Master programme in Applied Deaf Studies (MADS). While the field of Deaf Studies has innovated and expanded especially in the past 10 years, this has not yet been translated into an expansion of postgraduate study opportunities in Deaf Studies. This is the first gap that we address with the MADS programme. Research findings need to be connected to a postgraduate teaching program able to innovate professional practice connected to deaf people, deaf communities and sign languages. This is the second gap that we address with the MADS programme. MADS is unique in two ways. First, this MA programme is a deaf-led, international, collaborative Master’s, building on the specialisations of the scholars and institutions that are involved. Second, in response to the abovementioned gap between scholarship and professions, MADS is a course in “Applied Deaf Studies” rather than “Deaf Studies” per se, in order to offer students skills for professional practice. Indeed, for new findings to travel into professions such as education, social services, interpreting/translation and advocacy, we need professionals who work with deaf people, such as teachers, health workers, social workers and interpreters/translators, to have opportunities to study the latest research findings in Deaf Studies, so that they can consider how to apply such information in their practice and service planning and organisation. While the programme is open to all students, it specifically focuses on recruiting deaf students worldwide, since this group traditionally has had more barriers and fewer opportunities to access higher education, and more specifically Deaf Studies programmes. This is the third gap that we address with the MADS programme.