Visiting Professors

Michael O’Toole

Michael O’Toole is Emeritus Professor of Communication Studies at Murdoch University in Perth,Western Australia. His book The Language of Displayed Art (1994) was a pioneering attempt to apply the theory and methods of systemic linguistics to the semiotic analysis of the visual arts. Since then he has published studies of paintings (Rembrandt, Seurat, Magritte, Julie Dowling), buildings (Sydney Opera House, domestic architecture) and sculpture. As a specialist in literary stylistics, he has also studied the multimodal interplay of verbal and graphic texts in paintings, news articles and advertisements.

Eija Ventola

Eija Ventola is Professor in the Department in the School of Business at Aalto University in Helsinki. She has published widely in social semiotics, systemic functional linguistics, discourse analysis, text linguistics, multimodality and translation studies. She has worked to develop new research methods and practical applications in applied linguistics, discourse analysis and multimodal analysis.

Jim Martin

Jim Martin is Professor of Linguistics (Personal Chair) at the University of Sydney. His research interests include systemic theory, functional grammar, discourse semantics, register, genre, multimodality and critical discourse analysis, with special reference to the transdisciplinary fields of educational linguistics and social semiotics.

Paul Thibault

Paul Thibault is Professor of Linguistics and Media Communication at Agder University, Kristiansand, Norway. His research interests include cognition and technology in relation to the body-brain complex in human communication, grammar and semantics, discourse analysis, semiotics, philosophical questions in relation to language and communication, multimodal analysis and information technology.