Mercator : Creating a Future for Languages

The Mercator Research Centre is the successor ofMercator Education, which was founded in 1987 by an initiative of the European Commis sion. The research centre is based in LjouwertlLeeuwarden, the capital of Fryslan a bilingual province of the Netherlands and nowadays a departrnent of the Fryske Akademy (Frisian Academy). Research ofthe Fryske Akademy is geared to the society, language and history of Fryslan. The Mercator Research Centre focuses on research, policy, and practice in the field of multilingualism and language leaming. The centre aims to be an independent and recognised organisation f for researchers, policymakers, and professionals in education. The centre endeavours to favour linguistic diversity within Europe. The starting point lies in the field of regional and minority languages. Yet, immigrant languages and smaUer state languages are also a topic of study. The centre's main focus is the creation, circulation, and application of knowledge in the field of language leaming at school, at home, and through cultural participation.