Foundations of Culture and Communication

Dr. Valeria Sinkeviciute serves as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and Cultures at The University of Queensland, where she has established herself as an expert in pragmatics and discourse analysis. Her academic journey began in Lithuania with degrees in English Philology and English Studies, including study periods in Spain and Quebec, followed by her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her research focuses on the pragmatics of social interaction, identity construction, humour, and (im)politeness in both face-to-face and online settings. She holds prestigious positions as Associate Editor for the Journal of Pragmatics and the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, while also serving on the Editorial Board of Advances in (Im)politeness Studies. Her expertise is recognized through her membership in the College of Experts at the European Science Foundation and the Review College at FWO. At UQ, she teaches courses in cross-cultural communication and digital discourse, while leading research projects on multilingual identities and Australian humour. Her significant contributions to the field include numerous publications on conversational humour, impoliteness, and social interaction, with her work being widely cited in academic literature. She actively participates in international conferences and regularly gives invited talks on pragmatics and social interaction, while also supervising graduate students and contributing to various research initiatives in linguistics and cultural studies.