About the Project
The Project began on 6 November 2006.
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It was hosted by The University of Manchester, under the direction of Professor Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture in the English and American Studies Subject Area within the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures (now Arts, Languages and Cultures), in conjunction with Dr Cordelia Warr, Senior Lecturer in the History of Art in the Art History and Visual Studies Subject Area of the same School, and Dr Louise Sylvester, Reader in English Language at the University of Westminster, London. Dr Warr rejoined the Project in January 2008 after a sabbatical leave period, during which she was replaced by Frances Pritchard, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester.
Project Team
The rest of the Project Team consisted of:
- A three year, full time post-doctoral Research Assistant based at University of Westminster, London: Dr Mark Chambers. Dr Chambers, who specialised in Middle English and Medieval Latin for the project completed his full-time connection in November 2009, but remained available as a consultant. He went on to become full-time Research Consultant on a related Leverhulme-funded Project. He returns to the Lexis Project as full time Research Assistant for July and August 2013. He has read Project-related papers in Austria, Cermany, Hungary, Spain and the USA as well as the UK.
- Dr. Mark Zumbuhl, full-time Research Assistant from April 2010 to February 2013. He replaced Dr. Stuart Rutten (see below) and worked from Oxford and Manchester. He was responsible for a large number of the terms finally included in the extensive database especially from the Celtic languages and Old English. He has read Project-connected papers in the USA and the UK.
- Dr. Stuart Rutten of Toronto was with the Lexis Project as Research Assistant from February 2007 to the end of March 2010, when he left for family reasons. His contributions to the Lexis during the first three years of the Project’s life included massive input into the design, testing and ultimate format of the Lexis database (called ‘the client’); advanced research into a number of the languages with which the Project wasi concerned, particularly Irish, Welsh and Cornish, as well as Old English and Latin; the examination of a vast repertoire of citations; contact and co-operation with other dictionaries and research projects; papers given at various conferences in Spain, Ireland, USA, Germany and England; and constant reviewing and reconsideration of the aims and progress of the Lexis Project itself.
- ICT developers based at The University of Manchester:
- Dave Risley
- Aubrey Scully.
- A part-time Administrative Assistant, Dr. Brian Schneider, who was based at The University of Manchester. Dr. Schneider was responsible for efficient day to day administration of the Lexis Project and answered general enquiries from researchers and members of the public.
'He has been appointed Honorary Research Fellow of The University of Manchester from June 2013 for one year.
Language Consultants:
- Dr Michael Hayes, University of Limerick completed his work on the Irish language in 2009.
- Dr Patricia Williams, University of Bangor completed her work in 2009, but remained as consultant, particularly in Welsh lexical matters.
Advisory Board:
- Frances Pritchard, Whitworth Art Gallery
- Professor Emeritus Donald Scragg, The University of Manchester
- Professor David Trotter, University of Aberystwyth
Project PhD student, beginning January 2007: Pamela Walker
- Title of thesis: ‘Art sources from Britain for clothing and textiles 1100-1450: genre, tradition, contemporaneity’
- The PhD student was supervised by Dr Cordelia Warr (Ms Frances Pritchard, 2007) and Professor Gale Owen-Crocker and was based in Art History and Visual Studies, The University of Manchester. Pam achieved her Phd in late 2012
Additional support
- The Lexis Project also enjoyed the presence and input of Linda Sever, PhD student, who was researching the context of words, particularly in connection with soft furnishings.
- Another PhD student, Emira Bouhafna, currently studying in Toronto, joined the team in late December 2009, and helped on a part-time basis to confirm and complete all the Latin entries to the Lexis database.
- A number of interns, the majority from Smith College in the United States, gave up much of their summer vacation time to help on a voluntary basis with many ancillary tasks - checking, editing, listing - to which the Lexis Project inevitably gave rise.
