Veronika Koller is interested in socio-cognitive approaches within critical discourse studies, specifically the role of metaphor in constructing identites and communicating ideologies. Her areas of expertise are politicial discourse, health communication, corporate discourse, and language and sexuality. Veronika’s research includes work on metaphor and gender in business media discourse, images of community in lesbian discourses, the discourse of corporate branding, metaphor in end-of-life care as well as, most recently, the discourse of cancer charities and the language used around Brexit. She received her PhD in English Linguistics from the University of Vienna in 2003 (thesis on metaphors in business magazines). Before joining Lancaster University in 2004, she worked at the Department of English Business Communication at Vienna University of Economics and Business and also as assistant marketing manager at a medium-sized company in Vienna. She does occasional language consulting work for private, public and third sector clients. Her main research is on political discourse, business discourse, health communication, and language and sexuality. A special research interest of hers is metaphor theory and analysis, as well as socio-cognitive approaches to critical discourse studies. Her current projects are on a) the discourse of cancer charities, and b) discourses around ‘Brexit’.
Andreas Musolff read Linguistics, German and English Philology at the Universities of Dűsseldorf and London (SOAS, UCL). After finishing the first degree, he worked at a School for Disabled Children and the Volkshochschule Dűsseldorf. In 1989, he obtained his PhD for work on the history of psycholinguistics and in 1996 his habilitation for work on political discourse analysis. In 2013 he held a Visiting Fellowship at the Truman Institute, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in 2009 a Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, Queen Mary University of London and in 2004 a Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, Queen Mary University of London. In 1993, he was awarded the Unilever Prize for innovative language teaching. Career: 1990-1995: Lecturer in German Studies, Aston University; 1996-2010: Senior Lecturer, then reader, then Professor in German Studies, Durham University; since 2010: Professor of Intercultural Communication, UEA. Academic Background 1983 1. Staatsexamen (University of Dűsseldorf); 1985 MA (University of Dűsseldorf); 1989 Dr. Phil. (University of Dűsseldorf); 1997 Dr. Habil. (University of Dűsseldorf). Awards/Visiting Professorships: 2009 Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, Queen Mary University of Londo; 2004 Visiting professorship, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; 1993 together with Professor Nigel Reeves, OBE: Unilever Prize for innovative language teaching.
Herbeth Colston is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Alberta, Canada. Previously, he was a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. His research interests include figurativity broadly construed, including its comprehension, usage, and its social and embodied underpinnings. He is Editor-in-Chief of Metaphor & Symbol (Taylor & Francis Journal) and co-Editor of Figurative Thought and Language (John Benjamins Book Series) with Angeliki Athanasiadou. Professor Colston has published widely and has edited several books, including Figurative Language Comprehension: Social and Cultural Influence and Irony in Language and Tought: A Cognitive Science Reader. He co-authored Interpreting Figurative Meaning (Cambridge University Press,2012) with Raymond Gibbs. His most recent book is How Language Makes Meaning: Embodiment and Conjoined Antonymy (Cambridge University Press). Selected new/recent research projects include 1) the social functions of metaphor (and other forms of figurativity), 2) the cognition and functionality of figurative “collages” (e.g., poetry, picture poetry, and other “super figures”), and 3) idioms as the “royal road” to figurative proficiency (in collaboration with colleagues in Austria, Russia, and Italy).