Ms. Catharina Weiss  | Applied linguistics | Research Excellence Award

Universitat Hamburg & Macquarie University | Germany 

Catharina Weiss is a dedicated PhD candidate in a joint doctorate programme between Universität Hamburg and Macquarie University, specialising in multilingualism, language education, and virtual exchange in primary schooling. With formal teaching qualifications for both primary and secondary education, she brings extensive classroom experience to her role as a practitioner-researcher. Her academic work integrates visual, multimodal, and ethnographic approaches to understand how linguistic diversity, digital learning, and international collaboration can enrich school-based language education. Catharina has contributed peer-reviewed publications that examine research on young learners of German and present an in-depth ethnographic analysis of a long-term virtual exchange between schools in Germany and Australia. Her ongoing doctoral project continues to advance knowledge on teacher agency and multilingual practices in digitally mediated learning environments. Although her h-index is currently at an emerging stage and her citation count and document index are in early development, her recent publications position her as a promising researcher whose work is gaining visibility in the field. She collaborates closely with international schools and is an active member of professional networks such as Next Generation Literacies and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung, contributing to research dialogues on multilingual education and innovative language-learning pedagogies.