Gedvilė (in the middle) on her graduation day.
We have some exciting news. Gedvilė Diržiūtė, a Master's graduate in Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Philology, won the 'Best Master's Thesis 2025' competition organised by the Lithuanian Society of Young Researchers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, with her thesis 'Language Policy in Families Raising Deaf Children'. Her thesis was selected as the best in the humanities category.
I am delighted to receive this award, which is significant not only to me personally, but also to the sign language community. It is important recognition of my research. I hope it will draw more attention to language policy decisions affecting families with deaf children, encourage closer cooperation between institutions and create broader opportunities for psychological support and counselling for parents. Ultimately, I would like to see language policy decisions that better reflect the needs of deaf children, and cases of language deprivation that become increasingly rare.
Congratulations to Gedvilė and her supervisor, Prof. Dr. Meilutė Ramonienė! Gedvilė is not only an excellent student, but also an athlete – she is currently participating in the Deaflympics in Japan. We wish you every success in achieving your goals!