METM26 presentation

Subject-matter expertise: credibility without credentials

Ana Sofia Correia, Lousã, Portugal

Language professionals without domain-specific qualifications are often asked whether they have sufficient expertise. The question – posed by clients, colleagues or an insistent inner voice – is based on the assumption that expertise belongs only to those who generate knowledge, not to those who make that knowledge usable. Indeed, expertise is often framed as credential-based or evidenced through authorship of technical or scientific content.

At the same time, experienced language professionals develop deep practical knowledge through repeated exposure to document types, stakeholder environments and review processes. Yet many struggle to recognise or articulate this expertise in conversations with clients and colleagues, weighed down by that all-too-familiar imposter syndrome: “Can I really be considered a subject-matter expert if I’m not a clinician, or lawyer, or engineer, or scientist?”

This presentation explores how subject-matter expertise actually develops and what it looks like in day-to-day practice, drawing on examples and prompting attendees to reflect on how these patterns appear in their own work. The session will be divided into three practical stages, looking at:

• how exposure turns into expertise over time
• how to recognise signals of growing subject-matter expertise in your own work
• how to explain that expertise clearly to clients and collaborators

The talk will be relevant to translators, editors, writers and other language professionals working with specialised content across sectors.

Attendees will leave with practical ways to recognise, consolidate and communicate their expertise without relying on formal credentials.

The goal is not to position language professionals as domain authorities, but to make visible the expertise our profession already builds – and to help attendees articulate that expertise more clearly and confidently in their own practice.

About the presenter

Ana Sofia Correia is a medical translator and writer who specialises in helping complex medical information work in real-world contexts. She collaborates with clients across clinical, regulatory and patient communication settings and is active in professional training, community building and cross-disciplinary collaboration within the medical communication ecosystem.