Bio

Thomas Gerard Dunbar is a second-year PhD candidate at the University of Glasgow, where he previously obtained a joint honours degree in Spanish and Comparative Literature as well as a Masters degree in Translation Studies. In 2025 he became one of the first recipients of the Institut Ramon Llull's doctoral research grant, which is currently supporting his research into the phenomenon of literary multilingualism in contemporary Catalan literature during the procés (2008–2024).

His thesis examines how contemporary Catalan literary works formally and thematically represent the sociolinguistic tensions between Catalan and Castilian, exploring the relationship between multilingual narrative and competing discourses of national identity that emerged during Catalonia's independence movement. Alongside his academic research, he also received a screen credit for his translation contributions to the Netflix documentary The Figo Affair: The Transfer That Changed Football (2022).

Project

During his stay at Faberllull, Thomas will use the opportunity to present and discuss his doctoral research with fellow residents and academics, seeking feedback and recommendations for multilingual literary works that may enrich his study. He also plans to develop a conference paper on Borja Bagunyà and Max Besora's Trapologia (2018), examining how the novel uses satire and the aesthetics of Catalan trap music to reflect on the socio-cultural dynamics of artistic production in contemporary Catalonia.