In 2017 I undertook a PhD at Heriot-Watt University, funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH) called “Approximately There – positioning video-mediated interpreting in police settings“. The goal was to investigate the way video-mediated interpreting services may be utilised to facilitate access to Police Scotland services.
This research was supervised by Prof Jemina Napier (Deputy of School and Head of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University) and Prof Nicholas R Fyfe (Director of Scottish Institute of Policing Research at the University of Dundee), in collaboration with Police Scotland and SignVideo.
Any opinion expressed on this site belongs to Robert Skinner.
Download a copy here: Approximately There – positioning video-mediated interpreting in police settings.


Online articles
Unlocking Some Truths: Newsli, Issue 111
Proximity interpreting: Day-to-day policing and delivering access for deaf citizens. Skinner, R. May 2018. policing insight.com.
Proximity interpreting: day-to-day policing and delivering access for deaf citizens. Skinner, R. February 2018. Scottish Institute for Policing Research. https://blog.dundee.ac.uk/sipr/2018/02/proximity-interpreting-day-to-day-policing-and-delivering-access-for-deaf-citizens/
Multilingual Policing: International Trends and Issues Boser, U., Monteoliva, E., Napier, J., Skinner, R. & Strani, K., May 2017, Scottish Institute for Policing Research : Annual Report 2016. Scottish Institute for Policing Research, p. 64-65 2 p.
Poster presentation at:
- Scottish International Policing Conference: Policing: localism in a globalising world, 10th November 2016.
- Symposium on Signed Language Interpretation and Translation Research March 31 – April 2, 2017 (USA).
- British Society Criminology – Forging Social Justice: Local Challenges, Global Complexities. 4-7th July 2017, Sheffield.

4. Scottish Graduate School of Social Science finalist at the Research Impact & Knowledge Exchange Competition 2018 14th May 2018
5. World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) conference, Paris 18th-19th July 2019.

Presentations (Abstract submission)
- IPCITI 2017 – 13th International Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Interpreting at Heriot-Watt University Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies in Scotland. Translation and Interpreting Technologies: a blessing or a curse? New directions in Translation and Interpreting Studies. 9-10 November 2017. IPCITI 2017 Abstract ANNON
- Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) Postgraduate conference, Edinburgh 15th Dec 2017. SIPR 2017 Abstract ANNON