Dr Alexander Laffer

Department of Linguistics and Communication
Teaching Fellow

Contact details

Address
Frankland Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Alexander Laffer is a lecturer and research and editorial consultant. His academic research combines discourse analysis and literary linguistics and he is currently exploring the interaction between digital fiction and empathy. He has taught modules in digital media discourse, professional communication, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. He has received Santander Universities funding to design and manage student consultancies.

He is a research officer on the following projects based at the University of Bangor:

  • Taking Back Control of our Personal Data;
  • Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK and Japan.

As a consultant, he designs and delivers projects focussing on communications and audience perception. Clients have included Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest cultural institution.

Recent publications include:

Laffer, A. (Forthcoming) ‘When readers talk about characters as if they were real, how do they talk about them? Empathy and gossip in reading group discourse’ Poetics, 85.

Qualifications

  • PGCHE - Goldsmiths, University of London. 2020
  • PhD -The Open University. 2016
  • MA- Literary Linguistics - University of Nottingham. 2008
  • BA(Hons) English Studies - University of Nottingham. 2007

Teaching

Teaching Fellow on the MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL as part of the distance learning programme.