PhD Researcher in Professional Communication: Role description

This post offers the opportunity to pursue a PhD under the supervision of Professor Louise Mullany and her professional communication team, researching the sociolinguistics of the workplace in local businesses. The role is fully funded by the European Regional Development Fund(ERDF) and it is a part of the Enabling Innovationproject, a £20.3 million programme including an ERDF award of £10.1 million made to the Universities of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Derby (2016-2019). See the following press release for more details:

The successful candidate will be based in the School of English’s Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics (CRAL) and they will join Linguistic Profiling for Professionals, a dedicated research consultancy and business unit based in CRAL.

The role entails the collectionof empirical data of business communication and conductingsociolinguistic research with a number of local businesses. The research will focus upon the communicative styles of individuals, teams and departments, using interactional sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and corpus linguistics. A key part of the role is to assist in the building of a new contemporary corpus of spoken and written professional communication and toparticipate in the delivery of research-based business engagement.

We are looking for a high calibre individual with a BA/BSc (2:1 or above) in a relevant discipline and a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis, Corpus Linguistics or similar. Candidates from Sociology or Psychology backgrounds who have some knowledge and experience of Linguistics are also encouraged to apply. Previous experience of working in industry may be an advantage, but is not essential.

The Interdisciplinary Ethos of Nottingham

Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary area of research at the University of Nottingham, touching on aspects of psychology, sociology, education, modern languages, literature, historical studies, and computational science. The Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics (CRAL), which includes a number of interdisciplinary research groups, is housed in the School of English. CRAL’s infrastructure supportscorpus-based research, discourse-based sociolinguistic data analysis, multi-modal data capture and analysis, eye-tracking, and behavioural response time experiments.

Existing Research Strengths

PhD and staff research within Nottingham’s School of English is concentrated in the Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics (CRAL), currently directed by SvenjaAdolphsand Kathy Conklin. Research groups within CRAL include The Professional Communication Group (directed by Louise Mullany and Spencer Hazel), theCorpus Linguistics Workshop, the Bilingualism Research Group (directed by Kathy Conklin and Walter van Heuven in Psychology), Vocabulary Research Group (directed by Norbert Schmitt), Literary Linguistics group (directed by Peter Stockwell), and the Health Language Research Group (directed by Kevin Harvey, SvenjaAdolphs and Louise Mullany).

English Language and Applied Linguistics in the School of English

The field of English Language and Applied Linguistics (ELALs) has seen strong growth on several fronts in the past five years. Investment by the School and the University in this area of teaching and research has both strengthened research profiles and helped considerably in meeting School and University international

recruitment targets. The Linguistic Profiling for Professionals business unit is the latest innovative initiative of the University’s investment in this area.

The Linguistic Profiling Business Unit is directed by Louise Mullany, Professor of Sociolinguistics and the School’s Director of Business and External Engagement. Within the business unit, the successful candidate will become a member of the academic team, consisting of Professor Mullany, Dr Spencer Hazel, Dr Sarah Atkins, Dr Malgorzata Chalupnik and Dr Luke Collins, along with Kay Snowley (Business Development Manager) and Sunita Tailor, (LiPP Administrator).

We have a sister research centre, CRALC (Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics, China) at the University of Nottingham’s Ningbo campus (UNNC). There is an established group of staff in CRALC who have research expertise in professional communication, including workplace communication (Dr Du Ping and Dr Simon Harrison) and health communication (Dr MukulSaxena).

General Information

The School of English

The School of English was one of the first departments to be established when the University was formally opened in 1881 and is located on the ground floor of the Trent Building, University Park Campus.

We have a first-rate, international reputation for outstanding research and teaching, as demonstrated by our School's current UK and world rankings:

  • 7th for English in The Times andSunday Times Good University Guide 2015
  • In the world top 50 for English Literature, Language and Linguistics (QS World University Rankings 2014)
  • 9th in the UK for 'research power' (REF 2014).

We offer a unique combination of English disciplines, including literature from the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods to the present day, English language from its origins to contemporary and applied contexts, drama and performance, and creative writing.

The School currently has c. 80 full- and part-time research students working towards the higher degrees of PhD within a range of topics, with most full-time members of staff engaged in postgraduate supervision. These are students on our Nottingham campus. The School also has Schools of English at The University of Nottingham campus in Ningbo, China (UNNC) and at The University of Nottingham campus in Malaysia (UNMC).

At present, there are 45 lecturing staff in the School, 7 Teaching Associates, 5 research staff and 4 Postgraduate teaching fellows. We offer both Single and Joint Honours courses at BA level, a range of taught postgraduate Masters courses (many through web-based Distance Learning) and research supervision in all areas. We have approximately 850 undergraduate students, 70 undertaking on-site Masters programmes and 250 on distance learning Masters programmes.

For more information about the School of English, see:

For more information about LiPP, see: