Unit of Assessment 26
Modern Languages and Linguistics

Research submitted to UOA26 in Modern Languages and Linguistics represents a diversity of approaches to the study of language and culture. It includes work by staff from the Departments of Languages & Cultures, English Language & Applied Linguistics, and the School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences. Together we focus on addressing the historical origins of contemporary problems, the current factors that contribute to them, and the ways people within and outside of academia can work together to solve them through better understandings of language and culture. 

Our research is focused on three distinct but interrelated areas:

• Conflict, contact and migration: Work in this area addresses the relationship between language use and identities, ideologies and social cohesion in contexts of conflict, migration, displacement and discrimination. Areas of interest include the protective role of language in global mobility; the representation of migrants in political and media discourse, particularly related to issues of racism and hate speech; multilingualism and language contact; and the intersections of language, nationalism and conflict.
• Maintaining healthy and prosperous societies: Research in this area focuses on how linguistics and cultural studies can contribute to healthy and prosperous societies through strengthening areas such as health and education. Work addresses language teaching and learning and is informed by sociocultural, psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic approaches, as well as the role of language and discourse in health, business and professional communication.
• Transmission of knowledge and culture across time and space: Our third major focus is the material and technical means through which culture is disseminated and their political, economic and social underpinnings. Research in this area includes work on book history and publishing, the role of publishing and translation in contexts of rapid political change and conflict, as well as digital technologies and their impact on language, communication and culture.

Our work is supported by three of the University’s Interdisciplinary Research Centres:

• Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism which brings together researchers from Education, Psychology and Modern Languages.
• Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing which works closely with the University’s renowned Special Collections in book publishing and printing history.
• Centre for Health Humanities which provides a forum for work with scholars in History, Literature, Philosophy and Pharmacy.

Staff and doctoral students

We submitted 27 staff in UOA26 (24.7 FTE): 7 Professors, 9 Associate Professors and 11 Lecturers or Postdoctoral Fellows, including 6 early career researchers.

Over the assessment period for REF2021, 50 students were awarded their doctorate. We typically have about 41 PhD students at any time (from 18 countries in 2019/20).

We are members of the AHRC’s South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership which provides funding and other opportunities to research students.

Collaborations and networks

We work with multiple Departments within the University and with overseas institutions, government bodies and NGOs from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Work in publishing and book culture benefits from collaborations with libraries, museums and professional societies as far afield as Argentina, Austria, Cuba, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Spain, Sweden and USA. We have strong relationships with international aid organisations, especially the UN, DFID, the British Council and NGOs such as Amnesty International, Oxfam and Christian Aid. Closer to home we work with local refugee groups, the charity Changing Faces, and with the St Giles Trust for our prison-related work.

Sector recognition

Selected examples of national and international recognition between 2014 and 2020:

• Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (Professor Rodney Jones)
• Member of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Speech (ADI/MSI-DIS) (Professor Federico Faloppa)

Examples of the impact our research has had at local, national and global levels.