I was appointed Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the School of ECLS at Newcastle University in June 2013, having spent the previous two years as a JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Kansai University (Osaka, Japan).

Prior to that, I was a student in the School of ECLS, where I obtained my PhD, as well as an MA in Cross-Cultural Communication & Applied Linguistics and an MA in Applied Linguistics Research. I have also spent time in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (as part of my PhD, in 2009) and the Graduate School of Language and Culture at Osaka University (for a research sabbatical, in 2017).

In September 2018, I took on the role as Head of the Applied Linguistics & Communication subject area at Newcastle University. I am also currently a member of School Executive Board, School Research Committee, and School Teaching & Learning Committee in the School of ECLS. I have previously been Degree Programme Director for our suite of MA Cross-Cultural Communication programmes (2013-2021), and acted as Chair of Board of Studies and Chair of Board of Examiners.

Areas of research expertise

• Intercultural Communication
• International workplaces
• Higher Education
• Communication disorders
• Video-mediated communication
• Conversation Analysis
• Membership Categorisation Analysis

My Google scholar profile is here

Research Interests

I am interested in social interaction, particularly involving people with differing communicative repertoires. This includes:
(1) intercultural and multilingual workplaces, such as educational settings like universities and language classrooms. 
(2) communication involving individuals with communication disorders; a current example of this is an ongoing project on effective communication in arts and cultural activities for people living with dementia.
(3) both of the above in technology-mediated contexts, such as video-conferencing calls.

I usually investigate these topics by analysing video recordings of real-life communication, using the research methods of Conversation Analysis (CA) and Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA). 

I am also a member of Multimodal Analysis Research Group (MARG), a research forum for staff and students interested in the analysis of human social interaction.

I would be delighted to hear from potential research students with an interest in studying any of the above topics, using methods similar to those mentioned above.

Recent Research Funding

"Interaction, Dementia, and Engagement in the Arts for Lifelong Learning (IDEAL)" 
UKRI Healthy Ageing Catalysts Award (Co-I with Dr Spencer Hazel, Dr Chris Leyland and Dr Anna Goulding)
£62,000 (October 2020 - October 2021)

"Interaction, Dementia, and Engagement in the Arts (IDEA)" 
British Academy Small Research Grant (Co-I with Dr Spencer Hazel and Prof Andrew Newman)
£7,500 (Sept 2017 - Sept 2019)

Postgraduate Supervision 

At present, I am supervising three postgraduate research students, all as second supervisor (Michelle Johnson, Yiyin Wang, WenWen Zhang).

I have also supervised 13 successful PhD projects to date, including:

Dr Hanain Brohi (as first supervisor, with Dr Peter Sercombe). "'It's scary how many people believe what Trump believes;: How a Muslim women's Sisters' Circle interactionally navigate socio-political realities", January 2021.

Dr Nimet Copur (as first supervisor, with Professor Steve Walsh). "An interaction-analytic investigation of student-initiated humour in EFL classes in Turkey", December 2020.

Dr Kazuki Hata (as second supervisor, with Professor Steve Walsh) “Projectability, contextuality and complexity of trailoff: A Conversation Analysis of ‘but’ at turn-final placement”, November 2018.

Dr Somporn Maneechote (as second supervisor, with Dr Alan Firth) "Negative assessments of referents in co-participants' cultural groups and responses in intercultural interaction", July 2018.

Dr Khadija El-Wakai (as second supervisor, with Professor Steve Walsh) "Topic Management: The 'About What-ness' of Interaction in Student University Meetings", June 2018.

Dr Yoonjoo Cho (as first supervisor, with Dr Peter Sercombe) "The interviewers' self-disclosure in L2 research interviews: A Conversation Analytic study on empathic reformulation and discursive identity work embedded in the interviewer's self-revealing talk", April 2018.

Dr Ufuk Girgin (as first supervisor, with Prof Steve Walsh) "Reconsidering the uses of a minimal ‘non-lexical’ response token through ‘embodiment’: A second language teacher’s deployment of ‘mm hm’ as a third-turn receipt", December 2017.

Dr Yun Pan (as first supervisor, with Dr Chris Leyland), "Framing University Small Group Talk: Knowledge Construction Through Lexical Concepts", November 2017.

Dr Qi Chen (as first supervisor, with Prof Steve Walsh), "Shifting Embodied Participation in Multiparty University Student Meetings" , July 2017.

Dr Tugba Aslan (as first supervisor, with Prof Steve Walsh), "A Micro-Analytic Study of Gossip in Elderly Talk", February 2017.

Dr Sumita Supakorn (as second supervisor, with Prof Paul Seedhouse), "Topic Development in Thai EFL Classes: A Conversation Analytic Perspective", December 2016.

Dr Haia Al-Zaidi (as first supervisor, with Prof Paul Seedhouse), "The Practices of Multiple Other-Initiated Repair in Online Second Language Interaction", November 2016.

Dr Aki Siegel (as second supervisor, with Prof Paul Seedhouse), "Longitudinal Development of Word Search Sequences in English as a Lingua Franca Interaction", February 2016.

Postgraduate Teaching

Module leader

ALC8012 Introduction to Interaction Analysis (not running in 2021-22)

ALC8003 Methods in Cross-Cultural Communication Research (co-taught with Spencer Hazel)

Contribute to

ALC8021 Multimodal Communication

HSS8004 Qualitative Methodology in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (co-deliver two sessions on Methods of Language Analysis, with Spencer Hazel)

As of September 2020, I have supervised 112 successful MA dissertation projects (known as 'Research Portfolio' on the MAs in Cross-Cultural Communication), and one successful BA dissertation.

Previous teaching (postgraduate)

Discourse Analysis; The Social Psychology of Communication; Sociolinguistics; Culture, Interculturality and Identity; Language Learning; Research Methods in Applied Linguistics; English in the World

Previous teaching (undergraduate)

SPE2042 Linguistics & Phonetics II: Linguistics Analysis & Pragmatics (sessions on Conversation Analysis)

EDU1004 Internationalising Your University Experience (sessions on English as a lingua franca, and international Higher Education)

• Chen Q, Brandt A. Speakership, Recipiency and the Interactional Space: “Next-speaker Self-selects” Cases in Multiparty University Student Meetings. Journal of Pragmatics 2021, 180, 54-71.
• Girgin U, Brandt A. Creating space for learning through ‘Mm hm’ in a L2 classroom: Implications for L2 classroom interactional competence. Classroom Discourse 2020, 11(1), 61-79.
• Tai KWH, Brandt A. Creating an imaginary context: Teacher’s use of embodied enactments in addressing learner initiatives in a beginner-level adult ESOL classroom. Classroom Discourse 2018, 9(3), 244-266.
• Brandt A, Mortensen K. Conversation analysis. In: Hua Z, ed. Research Methods in Intercultural Communication. London: Routledge, 2016, pp.297-310.
• Greer TA, Brandt A, Ogawa Y. Identity in intercultural interaction: how categories do things. In: JALT Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings: 12th Annual JALT PanSIG Conference. 2014, Nagoya, Japan: JALT PanSIG.
• Brandt A, Jenks CJ. Computer-mediated spoken interaction: Aspects of trouble in multi-party chat rooms. Language@Internet 2013, 10, 5.
• Jenks CJ, Brandt A. Managing Mutual Orientation in the Absence of Physical Copresence: Multiparty Voice-Based Chat Room Interaction. Discourse Processes 2013, 50(4), 227-248.
• Ikeda K, Brandt A. 言語教室のインタラクション―コミュニケーションの「環境条件」を考える [Microecology of language classroom interaction]. In: Kataoka, K; Ikeda, K, ed. コミュニケーション能力の諸相―変移・共創・身体化― [Various Dimensions of Communicative Competence: Understanding its Fluid, Collaborative, and Embodied nature]. Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobo, 2012.
• Brandt A, Jenks C. 'Is it okay to eat a dog in Korea...like China?' Assumptions of national food-eating practices in intercultural interaction. Language and Intercultural Communication 2011, 11(1), 41-58.
• Brandt A. Culture in interaction: What micro-analysis of real life interactions can contribute to the study of intercultural communication. In: BAAL/CUP Applied Linguistics Seminar Programme 2009: Key Themes in Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. 2009, Sheffield: British Association for Applied Linguistics and Cambridge University Press.
• Brandt A. On 'interculturality': A review of research applying ethnomethodology to the study of intercultural interactions. Newcastle University, 2008. Available at: http://research.ncl.ac.uk/ARECLS/volume_5/brandt_vol5.pdf.