Carving Out an Interpreting Career in 2026

This event brings together experienced practitioners to share honest, practice-grounded insights into building and sustaining an interpreting career in today’s changing landscape. Open to both new and mid-career interpreters, the session will cover a range of career options, practical advice, and sector-specific insights across conference, public service and business interpreting.

Structure of the Session
The session will take the form of an interactive panel discussion.

• Each speaker will begin with a brief five-minute introduction outlining their professional background and areas of expertise.
• This will be followed by an interactive panel discussion and Q&A, led by members of the Interpreting Division.

Speakers will be invited to reflect on several core topics:

• Career development: how they established and sustained their interpreting careers, from initial entry into the profession to their current roles.
• Opportunities and challenges in 2025–2026: including technology integration, client relations and ongoing professional development.
• Practical guidance: covering areas such as rate-setting, working with direct clients versus agencies, workload management and navigating ethical or professional dilemmas.

Our panel features three distinguished practitioners whose profiles are outlined below:

Maha El-Metwally is a conference interpreter for Arabic (A), English (B), French and Dutch (C). She works for a wide range of international organizations, including the European Institutions and the United Nations. In addition to being a member of AIIC, she is a Fellow of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) in the UK. She is also a credentialed member of the American Translators Association (ATA) and The American Association of Language Specialists (TAALS).

Maha has an MA in interpreter training from the University of Geneva. She is associated with a number of universities both in the UK and abroad where she contributes to the curriculum. She is passionate about technology in the field of interpreting and offers courses on the subject internationally.

Ewa Jasinska-Davidson is a Conference Interpreter (Polish A, English B, Spanish C) and a Sworn Translator listed with the Polish Ministry of Justice.

Born in Poland, where she gained an MA in Linguistics from Adam Mickiewicz University, Ewa moved to the UK in 2004. She continued her education in England, completing degrees in Conference Interpreting and Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at London Metropolitan University, where she worked as a part-time Senior Lecturer for five years.

Ewa is a member of several professional associations, including CIOL, ITI, NRPSI, TEPIS, AIT, and PBLINK.

Passionate about entrepreneurship, Ewa values collaboration and is a strong advocate of building long-term professional relationships. She also volunteers as a mentor and is the co-founder of initiatives such as the London Interpreters’ Practice Group and the ITI Interpreters’ Development Network.

Sue Leschen is a well-known entrepreneurial lawyer-linguist who has married her twin passions of law and languages together. She is the Director of niche market company Avocate Legal French Interpreting and Translation Services Ltd (https://www.avocate.co.uk). Avocate also provides mentoring services for language professionals in business skills and legal terminology.

Sue is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) and a member of CIOL’s Interpreting Division Steering Group and the National Register of Communication Professionals Working with Deaf and Deafblind Persons (NRCPD) Professional Conduct Committees. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), a member of the ITI LIFT committee, the Association of Interpreters and Translators (AIT) and the Association of Translation Companies (ATC). Sue is a registrant of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) and holds Chartered Linguist (Interpreter) status.

Register now and join us for an insightful session using Teams.

Please note that these sessions are not recorded.