One of the best parts of our work is that we get to supervise Higher Degree Research (HDR) students aka PhD students. We are very proud of the two students we currently co-supervise, Jenny Zhang Jie and Vera Williams Tetteh. Ingrid is also very proud of all her other supervisees, past and present, including, of course, Kimie :-)

HDR supervision allows us to be part of the future of our field as we nurture the next generation of sociolinguists and we are constantly amazed by the extent of innovative research that is being done not only by our own students but by so many others. Plus we enjoy the health benefits of interacting with our supervisees: we like to think it keeps us young ;-)

Seeing all the great work that is being done by the next generation of sociolinguists from around the world, we would like to see language-on-the-move-research more widely talked about and more widely known. And that’s where ALMA comes in! ALMA is the Spanish word for “soul” and ALMA is designed to nurture the soul of the field by nurturing interactions about your work in a wider arena.

The ALMA Challenge
Are you a current or future HDR student in applied sociolinguistics who is doing exciting and innovative language-on-the-move-research? (If you have one of those moments of doubt and don’t know whether your work has potential, you might be interested in Ingrid’s forthcoming blog post on the topic - due out before the year is out …). Do you want your ideas and research more widely known and engaged with in a forum other than strictly academic ones? If your answer is yes to both questions, the ALMA challenge is for you!

The ALMA Award
Each year we would like to present two young researchers in the field with the chance to “play” with us on Language on the Move. We will feature the awardees’ work prominently on the site and mentor them over the course of one year to take your research (and your research writing!) to “the next level” – whatever that “next level” may be. The mentoring relationship is designed to be informal, related to the dissemination of your work, and to complement and support your existing supervision arrangements but not to infringe upon those in any way. Oh, and we’ll also throw in a book voucher at the end of the year.

The ALMA 2010 Selection Process
In order to apply for the ALMA 2010, send us the following:

(a) A 500-word essay about your language-on-the-move research. The essay should include the following:

a. What is your brilliant idea? (aka “research question”)
b. Why is it interesting? (aka “rationale” aka “why should anyone care?”)
c. How does it relate to the field? (aka “lacuna” aka “it has not been done before but it is not alien esoterics either”)
d. How are you doing it? (aka “methodology”)

(b) A 100-word statement how your research relates to Language on the Move and how your work would be enhanced by ALMA 2010.
(c) A 50-word bio sketch about yourself.

Submit these three texts in one file here. Submission constitutes consent to publish your essay on Language on the Move.

The ALMA 2010 Timeline

31 January 2010: deadline for submissions
15 March 2010: announcement of the ALMA 2010
April 2010-March 2011: tenure of the 2010 ALMA Awardees

The ALMA 2010 Selection Criteria
Ingrid and Kimie

• think that your work is innovative, promising and full of potential
• like your style
• hope that ALMA 2010 would make a real difference to your work and your writing and help to take it to “the next level”

We look forword to receiving applications from you!