Dr Xiaohui Yuan PhD

• PhD in Translation and Social Interaction

I am an Associate Professor working at the intersection of public policy, public service interpreting, identity studies, and moral theory. My research examines the changing procurement and organisation of public service interpreting within government systems through the lens of symbolic interactionism, with particular attention to how institutional and professional transformations shape public service quality and outcomes. I am especially interested in the implications of these changes for equal access to justice, healthcare, and social services in multilingual contexts. Alongside my academic work, I have extensive professional experience as an interpreter for international organisations and government bodies, including United Nations agencies in Geneva such as the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union. I seek to bridge theoretical analysis and applied practice to generate policy-relevant insights into the governance and delivery of multilingual public services.

• Interpreting and AI Governance
• Translation 
• Extended MA Projects

I welcome PhD enquiries in the areas of language policy, multilingual governance, AI and multilingualism.

Find out more - our PhD Translation Studies  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

AI Integration and Governance in Public Service Interpreting

Key government departments, including the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office, are rapidly developing and integrating AI-enabled speech technologies to address cost and quality challenges in public service interpreting. However, these developments are taking place with limited understanding of the human dimensions of interpreting that shape communication, trust, and equitable access to public services, particularly for vulnerable populations. Moreover, interpreters themselves have had little opportunity to contribute to policy discussions concerning technologies intended to augment or partially replace their work. This project investigates interconnected issues concerning the impact of AI on the interpreting profession, human expertise, and the responsible integration of AI into public service communication.

Public Service Interpreting Crises – How Outsourcing Policy Reshapes the Profession

Through interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of public service interpreters’ lived experience, the research investigates how outsourcing policies have transformed the organisation of interpreting services in courts, police forces, healthcare settings, and other public institutions. It demonstrates that outsourcing has reshaped not only employment arrangements and remuneration structures but also the social meaning of professional work and self. Through agency-mediated allocation systems, market-driven procurement practices, and the transfer of institutional responsibilities to private contractors, interpreting professionals increasingly experience job insecurity, diminished professional recognition, and growing barriers to exercising professional judgement.

Language use in social contexts (impact focused)

• Dispute resolution and negotiation: facilitative linguistic features vis-à-vis evaluative linguistic features in dispute resolution, use of interpreting in dispute resolution and negotiation
• Politeness in cross/intercultural interactions, the concept of face in the Far East and the West

I undertake extensive impact activities with dispute resolution organisations such as the Centre of Effective Dispute Resolution, the UK Civil Mediation Council and the International Mediation Institute.