
BA (1st Class Honours), UNSW
PhD, UNSW
I am the founder of the MA in Interpreting and Translation Studies - a professional program endorsed by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI). I was the Program Convenor (2005-2010, and (2014-15), the Deputy Head of School of Languages and Linguistics (2005-2010), and the Head of School of International Studies (2011-12). I was a Director on the NAATI Board (2010- 2016) and Chair of NAATI's Technical Reference Advisory Committee (TRAC) (2017-2020).
Research Summary
My main research area is currently in the field of interpreting studies. I examine interpreter-mediated communication in complex legal/courtroom settings, including those of war trials in national and international courts, and am particularly interested in the role of interpretation users - judicial officers and lawyers. This includes research on interpreting practices during the Australian War Crimes Prosecutions (1986-1993) and international courts and tribunals, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). I am the Lead investigator of the ARC Linkage project Communication between judicial officers and court interpreters: Implications for access to justice https://research.unsw.edu.au/projects/access-justice-interpreted-proceedings. I also work on the project Interpreting in War Crimes Trials. From the Nuremberg Trials to the International Criminal Court.
My historical inquiry raises the questions about Western intellectuals' involvement with the 1920s-30s Soviet Union, and closely looks at the Soviet cultural diplomacy and the attraction of eminent Western writers and artists (G.B Shaw, H.G.Wells, V. Gollancz, R. Rolland, L. Aragon, Jean-Richard Bloch, L.Feuchtwanger) to Stalin's USSR in the light of the developing Soviet cultural propaganda. I was among the first researchers who worked on the declassified documents of Soviet 'cultural' organisations in the former Soviet archives - research that led to the publication of her monograph Western intellectuals and the Soviet Union. From Red Square to the Left Bank, 1920-40, Routledge, 2007. I am the co-editor, with Rachel Mazuy, of the book Moscou-Caucase Été 1934. Lettres de voyage en URSS, Jean-Richard et Marguerite Bloch, CNRS Éditions, Paris, 2019. I am working on Soviet espionage in the 1920s-30s France and WWII-time relations between western intellectuals and the USSR.
As a researcher and educator of interpreters and interpreter users (particularly legal and courtroom), I have been a consultant and an invited speaker in Australian legal and judiciary bodies (Judicial Commission of NSW, Bar Association of NSW, National Judicial College of Australia, Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration) and overseas (ICTY, ICC, STL). I was commissioned by AusAID to design and deliver a suite of interpreting workshops for the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR (2005-2011).
ARC LInkage grant for the research project Communication between judicial officers and court interpreters: Implications for access to justice
Media coverage of research:
My Research Supervision
I am currently supervising
With Prof Sandra Hale:
With Dr Stephen Doherty:
Completed Research students:
Recent PhD examination:
My Teaching
Having taught Russian Studies (1989-2004), Ludmila made a transition to teaching interpreting and translation. She currently teaches advanced interpreting courses in the Masters in Interpreting and Translation. She is a guest lecturer in European Studies.
Ludmila is a UNSW teaching summative peer reviewer (2017 - ongoing)
Postgraduate courses:
Undergraduate course:
Blended learning multilingual multimedia course ARTS3330: Language Capstone: Introduction to Translation and Interpreting.
Postgraduate supervision (with Prof Sandra Hale):
Completed Research students:
Recent PhD examination: