Carolin Esser-Miles

Carolin's subject-oriented research spans early medieval studies to Forensic Linguistics. The common themes in all of these are interests in linguistic markers for mental spaces and perspectives, cultural semantics, and the interplay of cognition and materiality in textual production.

She is also involved in two projects on Anglo-Saxon royal Winchester involving internal and external partners, including University College London and the Hampshire Cultural Trust. 

Supervision of research students

​Dr Esser-Miles welcomes enquiries about supervision in the following areas:

• Old and Middle English poetry, especially meditative poetry and visual poetry
• Medieval concepts of God and the Devil
• Medieval drama

Dr Carolin Esser-Miles is Senior Lecturer in English Linguistics in the Department of English, Creative Writing and American Studies in the Faculty of Arts. From Sept. 2016, she is also Senior Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics in the Department of Applied Social Sciences in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She co-convenes the interdisciplinary Centre for Research into Language.

She designed and led the English Language programme for its first five years, was part of the team that created the first supplementary subject benchmark statement for English Language, and recently led the validation of two new BSc's in English Linguistics and English Linguistics with Forensic Linguistics.

She is an active researcher in teaching innovation, has won the University Learning & Teaching Award, and in 2016 she was voted ‘Inspirational Lecturer of the Year’ at the Student-led Teaching Awards at Winchester.

Qualifications

• 2006 PhD Medieval Studies (University of York). Thesis: Naming the Divine: Old English designations for the Christian God in Old English poetry.
• 2001 MA Medieval English Literature and Historical Linguistics (1st) (Heinrich-Heine Universität, Düsseldorf)
• Minors in German Linguistics and Modern English Literature

• Cognitive Linguistics, especially stylistics
• Cultural semantics
• Language and memory
• Material texts
• Historical linguistics
• Forensic linguistics
• Early medieval studies, especially Anglo-Saxon England
• Medieval religious thought, especially on prayer and the Apocalypse

Memberships

• ISAS – International Society of Anglo-Saxonists
• TOEBI – Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland
• IAFL - International Society of Forensic Linguitics
• GSFL - Germanic Society of Forensic Linguitics
• The English Project

Funding awards

• 2016: £30,000 from the AHRC for the project The Siege of London, Aethelred II and Cnut, with Dr Erin Goeres, University College London

• Esser-Miles, C. 2014. “King of the Children of Pride”: Symbolism, Physicality, and the Old English Whale. In: Klein, Stacey, William Schipper and Shannon Lewis-Simpson (eds) The Maritime World of the Anglo-Saxons. Tempe, Arizona. ACMRS, 275-301.
• Esser, C. 2009 ‘Whether Wikis Work: Student and Tutor Experiences in Using the Wiki as a Non-Linear Form of Assessment’ in Conference Proceedings from EDULEARN.
• Esser, C. 2001. Apocalyptic Ideas in Old English Literature. Available from www.apocalyptic-theories.com.

Conferences

• Oct. 2016: 'Prayer, politics and reshaping the nation in eleventh-century Winchester'; Invited speaker:at: Winchester: A Nation Emerges, a one-day symposium organised by Hampshire Cultural Trust.
• Aug. 2016: 'Experiential learning in Forensic Linguistics' at the 2016 Germanic Society of Forensic Linguitics Roundtable.
• July 2016: The Siege of London: Aethelred II and Cnut. Conference Co-organiser.
• July 2016: Conference Paper: The Siege of London. 'Let's All get along': Language of Conciliation in the Letters of Cnut. (University College London).