ICAHI Project

The biennial research project (2025–2027) entitled Interlingual and Intercultural Communication in International Protection Hearings in Italy: Developing Best Practices and Training and Awareness-Raising Activities for Stakeholders and Local Communities arises from the need to examine in greater depth a crucial moment in asylum procedures, upon which decisions of fundamental importance to applicants’ lives depend. Hearings before the Territorial Commissions constitute the institutional space in which asylum seekers are called upon to recount their often complex and traumatic experiences through communication mediated by interpreters or linguistic-cultural mediators.
In this context, the quality of communication is not a secondary concern but an essential condition for ensuring fairness, justice, and respect for fundamental rights. Our project aims to systematically analyse how mediated interactions unfold in practice, which critical issues emerge, and how these issues may affect mutual understanding among applicants, officials, and interpreters.
Our research is situated at the intersection of Interpreting Studies, applied linguistics, cultural anthropology, and immigration law, adopting an interdisciplinary approach that is strongly grounded in empirical data. Alongside its analytical dimension, our project places great emphasis on interprofessional training and the dissemination of results, with the aim of transforming the knowledge generated into concrete tools for improving professional practice.
Our project website is conceived as an open and accessible space that brings together information, materials, and updates on research activities, while also offering useful resources for scholars, institutional practitioners, interpreters, and local communities. Through this platform, our project seeks to contribute to a broader reflection on the role of mediated communication in institutional settings, and its social impact.

For information about our project, its research and training activities, or proposals for collaboration, please contact the scientific leads,  Dr Fabrizio Gallai (IULM, fabrizio.gallai@iulm.it) and Prof Amalia Agata Maria Amato (University of Bologna, amalia.amato@unibo.it).
Enquiries are welcome from scholars, institutional practitioners, interpreters, students, and all those interested in exploring issues of interlingual and intercultural communication in international protection procedures. Dialogue and exchange are, indeed, central to our project’s ethos.

ACTIVITIES

ICAHI  project activities unfold across multiple phases over a two-year period:
•    The first phase is devoted to the analysis of data collected in a previous project (September 2022 – 1 September 2023), including transcripts and documents related to hearings and interviews with officials, interpreters, and asylum seekers. This phase provides the empirical foundation for the entire project.
•    The second phase focuses on data analysis and the design of interprofessional training modules. Through opportunities for dialogue and focus groups, our project seeks to engage the various stakeholders in reflecting on the critical issues identified and on possible strategies for improvement.
•    The third phase is dedicated to piloting the training activities and to dissemination and outreach initiatives. This phase includes public events, seminars, and awareness-raising activities aimed at both specialist audiences and local communities.