I hold an MA in Conference Interpreting from Institut libre Marie Haps in Brussels, and a PhD in Translation Studies from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Before joining the University of British Columbia, I taught a variety of original courses in translation theory and practice at Binghamton University’s Romance Languages Department and Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP).

My ethnographic research focuses on interpreters’ dilemma of embodying various speakers while trying to remain neutral. It also builds on the gendered work of conference interpreters, addressing questions such as how clients’ gendered assumptions affect interpreters’ performance. In my book manuscript tentatively entitled Language, Gender and Resistance: The Emotional Labour of Conference Interpreting, I explore how interpreters assume another “I” by performing various forms of emotional labour, and how this holds important consequences for interpreters’ sense of identity, including gender.

My current project (SSHRC IDG Grant, 2023–2028) challenges Western normative assumptions and theoretical understandings of neutrality in translation by drawing on First Nations translators’ and interpreters’ lived experiences working with English and French. Bringing voices from the field into the research, and drawing on Indigenous standpoint theory, settler colonialism, and theories of resistance, the project investigates how translation and interpreting practices affect Indigenous language revitalization.

I have worked as a conference interpreter and translator for almost eleven years. I have professional experience and training within a number of international organizations such as the United Nations in New York, and the European Union and NATO in Brussels.

Interests

• Sociology of translation and interpreting, including work alienation and labour
• Emotional labour
• Aesthetic labour
• Race, gender, and identity
• Ethnography and autoethnography in translation and interpreting
• Fictional representations of translators and interpreters
• The role of translation and interpreting in Indigenous Language Revitalization

Current Projects

• Language, Gender and Resistance: The Emotional Labour of Conference Interpreting (book manuscript in progress)
• “Voices of the First Nations: Reflection on Race, Gender and Neutrality in Indigenous Translation and Interpreting,” SSHRC IDG Grant, 2023–2028
• Ethical Dimensions of Interpreting for Temporary Migrant Workers
• The Role of Languages, Translation and Interpreting in Decolonizing Arctic Research (Co-Investigator)
• Translation, Creativity, and Engagement with Francophone Folksongs (Co-Investigator)

Journal Articles

Ayan, Irem. “Re-thinking Neutrality Through Emotional Labour: The (In)visible Work of Conference Interpreters,” TTR (Traduction, terminologie, rédaction) 33, no. 2 (2020): 125–146.  https://doi.org/10.7202/1077714ar

Ayan, Irem. “Aesthetic Labor in Interpreting: The Interpreter’s Burden of ‘Looking Good and Sounding Right.’” Target. Special Issue on Translation and Labor. Forthcoming.

Ayan, Irem. “The Ethics of (De)commitment: Interpreting for Temporary Migrant Workers in Richelieu, Québec.” Manuscript in progress.

Ayan, Irem, Şebnem Susam-Saraeva, and Nicholas Barrand. “The Epistemic Work of Translation and Interpreting: Knowledge Co-Production in Arctic Research.” Abstract accepted.

Book Chapters

Ayan, Irem. “Intervention as a Form of Survival: Suki Kim’s The Interpreter.” In Transfiction: Characters in Search of Translation Studies, edited by Marko Miletich, 35–50. Wilmington, Delaware: Vernon Press, 2024.

Ayan, Irem. “Affect and/as Pedagogy in Community Interpreter Training: Approaches from a Classroom in British Columbia.” In Transformative Teaching in Translation: Pedagogy for 21st Century Trainers & Learners, edited by Valérie Florentin and Renée Desjardins, Palgrave Macmillan, 2026. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-13894-1_9

Ayan, Irem. “Emotional Capital and Its Link to Emotional Labor in Community Interpreting.” In Affect in Translation, edited by Lucie Spezzatti, Sofía Monzón and Elisabeth Goemans, Leuven University Press, 2026. https://lup.be/book/affect-in-translation-and-interpreting/?srsltid=AU7gw4Xo_yyLy_BQWT2rFA1jqH9qoYst2U0wYn4iAwbLhlyrNskFvpqg

Research Grants and Awards

• UBC Language Sciences, Knowledge Mobilization and Dissemination Fund, “‘Folklore vivant’: Re-imaginingcreative engagement with francophone folksongs,” Co-Investigator, 2026
• IASC (International Arctic Science Committee) Cross-Cutting Project Funding, “The Role of Languages, Translation and Interpreting in Decolonizing Arctic Research”, Co-Investigator, 2025
• SSHRC Insight Development Grant, “Voices of the First Nations: Reflecting on Race and Gender in Indigenous Interpreting”, 2023–2028
• UBC Hampton New Faculty Research Grant, “Emotions, Race and Gender in Interpreting”, 2022
• Binghamton University, Distinguished Dissertation Award, 2019
• Fulbright Scholarship for Foreign Students (Doctoral Studies), United States Department of State, 2013–2015

Teaching Awards

• Binghamton University, Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2019

Currently accepting graduate students for supervision.