He has lectured world-wide and is a board member of the Danish Centre for Human Rights. He is British.

Principles and policies for a multilingual Europe English permeates globalisation, europeanisation, and americanisation. EU language policy is, apart from some rights to interpretation in the supra-national institutions, and the promulgation of documents in all official languages (which in theory have equal rights), largely covert. This facilitates the dominance of English. In several member states the impact of English has led to an awareness that local values are at risk: strategies for increased multilingualism aim at appropriating English without being victimised by it.

She is currently researching the nature of interactions in English as a lingua franca, and the influence English may have on discourse norms in other European languages via translation and multilingual text production.

English as a lingua franca for Europe
The role of English as a worldwide lingua franca is irreversible. It is therefore more fruitful to accept this role than either bemoan it or follow the European Union's hypocritical language policy. A distinction between a "language for communication" and a "language for identification" is useful here. English as a lingua franca (ELF) is a language for communication, and as such the "property" of all European speakers whose native languages will continue to serve as languages for identification, i.e., means for speakers to identify with their linguistic community's cultural heritage. The usefulness of this "division of labour" is reflected in three recent developments: a renewed concern with local, regional and national linguistic and cultural practices; attempts to give English as a school subject a curricular status markedly different from other foreign languages; results from empirical research into ELF interactions and the influence of ELF on discourse norms in other European languages.

He currently carrying out research work at Dublin City University where is undertaking a Ph.D in minority languages and socio-economic development. He speaks Irish, English, Welsh, French and Dutch.

Can minority languages survive?
Because of the frequent threats to their existence, research into many autochthonous minority language communities provides valuable insights into the links between language, identity and self-esteem. Minority language organisations throughout the EU are now trying to further develop this link, and to use identity and positive self-worth as a motor for their communities' socio-economic development. New technologies and media are being explored as means of overcoming geographical and economic marginalisation, based on the link between identity and linguistic specifity. Bilingual or trilingual education projects are being pursued, in order to give the native language equal status in schools with English and other dominant languages. The increasing presence in Europe of "new" minorities, represented by refugees and asylum-seekers, will henceforth pose new challenges both to autochthonous linguistic minorities and national and regional governments, particularly in the fields of education and media policy.

Teaching English as a lingua franca for Europe
Computational corpus linguistics, the analysis of vast amounts of electronically stored written and spoken text, has had a powerful impact on mainstream English language teaching, in which the predominant model (still) is 'native' English. In my contribution I will explore the relevance of current corpus research for the description and teaching of English as a lingua franca, the most widespread use of English in Europe and worldwide. I will go on to discuss the potentially radical ways in which our curricula, teaching materials and teacher education may change when the implications of the global spread of English and new technologies for linguistic description are carried through to pedagogy.

Euro-English as it is spoken
Given that there are now more second language than first language speakers of English around the globe, dramatic developments in spoken English are likely to occur over the coming years. In Europe, we may be about to witness the emergence of a hybrid European accent, albeit with local variations, which will no longer look to Britain to dictate its norms or 'police' its use. In my talk I will explore the concept of a European English accent and relate it to my proposals for a 'lingua franca pronunciation core' for English when it is spoken internationally.