Professor Andrew Linn

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange)

Professor Andrew Linn profile image's profile photo

My role

Our vision at the University of Westminster is to be ‘a place where discoveries are made, barriers are broken, diversity is celebrated and where everyone is welcome’. Central to this is our research and knowledge exchange, exploring new horizons, finding new solutions to the biggest challenges of our time, and ensuring that discoveries and insights made here make a difference everywhere else too.

As Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Knowledge Exchange, my role is to ensure that our whole community is focused on this vision. Westminster is already home to some of the most talented researchers and research teams in the world and my work will ensure that we continue to develop innovative partnerships and resources, extending the impact we create and the difference we make in the world. I have particular care for our postgraduate researchers, the new generation of knowledge innovators and as such work closely with our Graduate School to ensure that Westminster continues to be a great place to carry out PhD research.

In the words of our Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategy 2022-29; Making a Difference Westminster is ‘a unified community where everyone cares about and can feel part of our research and knowledge exchange endeavour’. Research is for everyone, not just the few. Our students are as much part of our research community as our professors and part of my job is to ensure that our whole community reaps the benefit of learning and working in a place where innovation, enterprise and problem-solving are making the world a more sustainable, healthier and better place.

Background

I joined the University as Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities in 2016, going on to become Head of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for six years, as well as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research. I was attracted to Westminster by the University’s nearly 200-year commitment to education-for-all, a passion that has kept me here and which has inspired me during my different roles. I worked previously at the University of Sheffield, where I was Professor of the History of Linguistics from 2003 and successively Head of English Language and Linguistics and Director of Research and Innovation for the Arts and Humanities.

My own academic background is a diverse one in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities. Undergraduate studies in English and Modern Languages at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where I was an organ scholar, led to postgraduate work at Cambridge in Linguistics and a PhD on language planning and the standardization of Norwegian.

Research

My research interests include language policy-making and planning, and the history of linguistics.

My most recent research, carried out for the British Council, focuses on the changing role and status of English across the world and the global phenomenon of English-medium education. Recent publications include studies of English-medium education in the universities of the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Earlier research work includes a project on the changing status of English across Europe funded by the Leverhulme Trust, a project exploring mass migration from Norway to America in the 19th century using virtual world technology funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and biographies of leading 19th-century linguists funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy.

External roles

I am a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and a strategic reviewer for the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I am President of the UK society for the History of Linguistics (the Henry Sweet Society) and was until recently co-editor of the journal Language and History.