The Creativity and the Language Industry professorship is interested in how language invites us to interact with it in a playful fashion. The professorship enquires into how and why we innovatively push against and expand the limits of our existing linguistic repertoires, and into how humans construct identity and identities through language. We look at how language professionals employ creativity to solve communication problems both on a textual level, but also in relation to processes and systems that rely upon language for their success. The aim of our research is to enhance understanding of this core human faculty, the importance of which will only increase in tandem with the development of artificial intelligence. What is involved in being creative, and what are the conditions needed for creativity to flourish? Our research will improve understanding of linguistic creativity, highlighting its value for the language industry, and will inform the training of future language professionals.

In the MA in Applied Linguistics we offer different modules with content from the field of Creativity and the Language Industry, including the following:

• Theory and Practice of Translation: Stylistics

We also supervise BA and MA theses on this topic.