DIHM DIGEST

Issue 4 / June 2016

1

Welcome to the 4th issue of DIHM Digest.

This is the delayed first publication in 2016.

The delay is not due to any prolonged

gestation period but the decision to be

‘relevantly irregular’ i.e. to publish an issue

when there is enough news to share.

Since the appearance of the 3rd issue in

December 2015, DIHM activities over the past

six months have become synonymous with the

preparations for COMET 2016 which is being

hosted in Denmark for the first time (14th in

the series). A special ‘Behind the COMET 2016

Scenes’ included in this issue offers a glimpse.

We are ready to welcome delegates from

approximately 25 countries.

COMET 2016 is flanked by the DIHM Summer

School and the Masterclass – so a busy period

ahead before the summer holidays are in sight.

Another core preoccupation in the previous

months has been the backstage planning of a

series of DIHM pilot projects – including

meetings with research collaborators,

applying for ethics committee approvals etc. A

write-up about the individual pilot projects

appears in this issue.

The ‘leaffull’ DIHM tree has in the meantime

become ‘leafless’, with an autumn look when

spring, if not summer, is in the air – but we are

in denial that it is ‘lifeless’!

DIHM wishes everyone a wonderful and

relaxing summer holiday!

Srikant Sarangi/Bettina Jensen

IN THIS ISSUE

Welcome 1 DIHM Pilot Projects 7 Behind the COMET 2016 Scenes 2 Talks & Travels 9

Guest Researcher Farewell 3 Recent Publications 13 Workshop on International Publishing 4 Announcements 14 Doctoral Travelogues 5

DIHM DIGEST ISSUE 4, JUNE 2016

Danish Institute of Humanities and Medicine Aalborg University, Kroghstræde 3, 9220 Aalborg Øst, Denmark

www.dihm.aau.dk

DIHM DIGEST

Issue 4 / June 2016

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BEHIND THE SCENES

I still remember the day. It was a rainy

afternoon well over a year ago. I was sitting at

my desk, quietly replying to emails and

otherwise attending to business. Then Srikant

came in and said, “I am thinking about hosting

COMET 2016 here at Aalborg. Do you think we

can do it?”. I will admit I was thunder-struck for

a moment or two, but then a rough sketch

started to take form in my mind and I think my

exact words were, “I am certainly willing to give

it a go”. That was the beginning of this exciting,

educational and sometimes seemingly endless

journey towards COMET 2016.

The planning phase began right away. In a

matter of days internal approval had been

secured, an Organising Committee had been

assembled, a draft budget was drawn up and

possible physical locations underwent serious

scrutiny in our search to find the best place to

pitch the COMET tent next. In no time, the

sketch in my mind had turned into a series of

colourful images of how the event would go.

It did not become entirely real, however, until

we were putting together the slides for the

announcement of COMET 2016 in Hong Kong

and it truly hit home when the call for proposals

went out and abstracts from all around the

world began to materialise. From that point

onwards, one thing led to the next: from

announcement of accepted abstracts and

regular website updates to plenary speaker

invitations and many (long) deliberations about

the right venue for the conference dinner.

The word ‘busy’ took on a whole new meaning

when we reached the ‘6 weeks to go’ mark. The

COMET email blazed with participant enquiries

about registration, accommodation, travel, the

conference programme and everything else

between heaven and earth. The most unusual

and memorable one to date was from a young

researcher asking for advice on how to find a

babysitter in Aalborg. We met with janitors to

learn about fire regulations and floor plans,

with IT technicians to know what equipment

could be made available, with student helpers

to give them a sense of what their jobs would be

and with caterers to plan the conference dinner,

the welcome reception, lunches, tea and coffee.

The COMET book of abstracts proved to be a

challenge beyond belief. Disappearing headers,

missing page numbers and columns of text that

refused to cooperate caused both frustration

and sleepless nights before it finally went off to

the printers. In the middle of it all, Srikant

ended up with one wrist fractured and the other

badly sprained, leaving him virtually unable to

work on his computer though he steadfastly

came to the office every day.

Now, as we can see the end of the road, the

amount of ‘to-do-lists’ and yellow post-its builds

as each day passes – but so does the excitement.

To finally be able to welcome all the people I

feel I have got to know via emails and phone

calls will most definitely be the best part of it

all. I very much hope Aalborg will be able to live

up to all the excellent COMETs that have come

before this one and that our guests will travel

home with a sense of their journey here being

worthwhile. We shall certainly do our utmost to

make everyone feel welcome. Though the

planning and the preparations have been

exhausting at times, I hope it will not be long

before COMET is sighted in Aalborg again!

Bettina Jensen

Local Organising Committee, COMET 2016

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Issue 4 / June 2016

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GUEST RESEARCHER FAREWELL

The DIHM Experience

I was accepted to be attached to the Danish

Institute of Humanities and Medicine (DIHM),

Aalborg University for a period of slightly over

three months, starting from mid-August to end

of November 2015. The main purpose was to be

mentored by Professor Srikant Sarangi, the

Director of DIHM, who is internationally

acknowledged as an expert in the field of

applied linguistics and professional practices.

My motivations for the research attachment

were two-fold: 1) to reflect

on my ongoing research

and academic activities

and realign them with

discourse-based studies of

professional practice in

various domains; 2) to

prepare draft articles

based on my research to be

targeted at international peer-reviewed

journals. Professor Sarangi’s strong track

record as author and editor in the international

publishing scene made it fairly easy for me to

choose him as my mentor. My home university

gladly supported my application for the

research attachment at DIHM.

The attachment got off to a good start with my

registration for the 2nd DIHM Summer School,

taught by Professor Sarangi. The one-week

programme was ideally suited for me to get

exposed to systematic ways of analysing

communication in healthcare settings, which is

one area of professional practice. The lectures

and the group discussions among the

participants enabled us to relate our research

to the broad framework of professional practice

research from a language/communication

perspective. The social dinners after the day-

long sessions provided good networking

opportunities in the restaurants’ more relaxed

environments.

Following the Summer School, my calendar was

filled with individual and joint consultation

sessions with Professor Sarangi, participation in

the monthly DIHM Research Forums, and

attendance at international journal publication

courses conducted by Professor Sarangi in

Norway and Finland. The opportunity to

participate in these courses was priceless as I

managed to also meet like-minded researchers

from other countries. This allowed me to know

what other people were researching in other

parts of the world, and how they were

managing and coping with the challenges.

The final month of my attachment included

participation at the Applied Linguistics and

Professional Practice (ALAPP) conference, held

in Milan between 5-7 November 2015, where I

presented a paper. I also attended the Pre-

ALAPP Masterclass conducted by Professor

Sarangi. ALAPP was a great conference with

very good papers presented by applied linguists

and professional practitioners in the field.

Besides the serious-academic-and-research-

matters, the stay at DIHM was a memorable

experience as I got to know great people such as

Bettina (thank you for your help and kindness),

Hanan, Maj, Gigi and Shameem (who shared the

DIHM office space during the period of my

attachment. The lunches, dinners, and other

food-in-between sessions were savvy moments

for knowing and connecting with you guys.

Thank you for a wonderful experience, one

which I will never forget.

Hadina Habil, PhD

Associate Professor, The English Academy

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

DIHM DIGEST

Issue 4 / June 2016

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WORKSHOP ON PUBLISHING IN

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS

DIHM hosted the second Workshop on

Publishing in International Journals at Aalborg

University during 13-15 January 2016. As usual

it was led by Professor Srikant Sarangi, Director

of DIHM. There were 11 engaged and active

participants from the Faculty of Humanities and

the Faculty of Medicine at AAU and one

participant coming from the USA. Here are the

reflections from two of the participants.

On a few snowy days in January, I participated

in Srikant Sarangi’s PhD course on publishing.

With participants ranging from anthropologists

to computer scientists, the course sought to

shed light on a shared middle ground in

academic life, namely that of publishing in peer-

reviewed journals. Junior researchers often

share an experience of knowing their

discipline(s) while still being inexperienced with

regard to having an insight into the

infrastructure of academic work and life. So in

this course, Srikant opened the door to the

editor’s office and introduced us to some insider

knowledge about publishing. In doing so, we

were introduced to issues that may otherwise

be treated as tacit knowledge in the research

community.

Considering Srikant’s academic background, it

probably comes as no surprise that many

readings and examples in the course were about

linguistics. However, it did seem that we all

benefited from the insights offered to us, which

makes me think that there seems to be a point

in thinking of academic publishing as, also, a

craft rather than only as a scholarly venture.

Because when all PhD Fellows have ample

opportunity to discuss academic matters that

are intrinsically related to their disciplines (or, I

certainly hope they/we do) it seems quite

beneficial to dedicate some PhD courses to the

craftsmanship of doing research and Srikant’s

course certainly managed to do just that. I, for

one, definitely took away quite a few good ideas

that I hope I will be able to incorporate into my

work on my dissertation.

Mikkel Jensen PhD student

Aalborg University, Denmark

Left to right: Mikkel Jensen, Tabo Geoffrey, Hanne Mohapeloa, Srikant Sarangi, Mirna Isabel Rivera,

Nichol Kirby, Ulla Egidiussen Egekvist, Morten Kromann Nielsen, Niels Erik Lyngdorf

I was privileged to attend Professor Srikant

Sarangi’s Workshop on Publishing in

International Journals for PhD students in

January 2016 at Aalborg University. Although

I had some experience of publishing in edited

books and book series, I lacked knowledge

about the art of publishing in international

journals.

I enjoyed the workshop, both academically

and personally. The general tone of

informality provided a good foundation for

interesting discussions and stimulated

engagement from all participants. Through

real-life stories from his experiences as an

DIHM DIGEST

Issue 4 / June 2016

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editor, reviewer, and Ph.D. supervisor,

Professor Sarangi opened up a world to me,

which is otherwise difficult to gain insight

into. Furthermore, hands-on exercises of

reviewing authentic manuscripts submitted to

international journals brought insight into the

requirements of publishing in international

journals and the multiple perspectives

reviewers can have hereon.

Overall, the workshop provided meaningful

learning experiences for me, and I have gained

a good understanding of how to approach

international journals, communicate with

editors, and deal with feedback from

reviewers in the future. As a young researcher

it is valuable knowledge, and thus, I highly

recommend participation in Professor

Sarangi’s Workshop on Publishing in

International Journals for PhD students.

Ulla Egidiussen Egekvist PhD fellow

Aalborg University, Denmark

DOCTORAL TRAVELOGUES

In the autumn of 2014 my PhD project “How

Patients and Health Professionals are

Topicalising Sexual Quality of Life in

Management of Chronic Illness” was accepted

at Aalborg University in the Humanities PhD

programme affiliated to DIHM and the

Sexology Research Centre. My primary interest

is how, where and when questions about

sexual function/dysfunction, reproduction and

partnership are introduced and by whom, and

the way is which health professionals and

patients perceive and account for such topics.

Claims that the topic of ‘sexual quality of life’

is neglected in the communication between

health professionals and patients reoccur, in

spite of more than 25 years of publications

indicating that both professionals and

patients recognize its importance. My

research focus is Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 and

Type 2, a common chronic disease with

profound consequences for the patient’s life

because of constant monitoring and

medication and well-known effects on sexual

function: Erectile Dysfunction is common in

men; similar problems are likely in women,

and pregnancies must be planned. Moreover, a

life-long illness may affect the self-image and

the relationship with partners. As a

gynaecologist and obstetrician with a Master’s

Degree in Anthropology of Health, I come to

this topic with a keen

interest and a unique

approach. I combine

audio-recordings of

clinic consultations,

fieldwork and inter-

views in my research.

Here I reflect on how

my professional role

and personal network have helped in gaining

access to the data site and in obtaining

relevant data.

I started fieldwork approximately 16 months

after my first mail to the Head of the

Department of Endocrinology. He knew me

from the medical school, and our children

went to school together. This pre-

acquaintance helped, but nonetheless I had to

convince him, the professor and the head

nurse. They were concerned about the

financial aspects as well as the demands on

their time to inform the patients. However,

since there were no expenses involved, and I

would handle the gaining of participants’

informed consent myself, they accepted my

project. Based on their feedback, I changed the

working title to "Topicalisation Practices in a

Diabetes Clinic", indicating that I study

communication in general, to avoid the bias

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Issue 4 / June 2016

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caused by an emphasis on the topic of ‘sexual

quality of life’.

I started observing clinic encounters between

patients and health professionals, without

recording in the first instance. I observed the

framework of different clinical encounters and

made “thick descriptions”, which I will use to

understand the audio-recordings where I am

not present. Hanging around, talking

informally to fellow colleagues and the fact

that I am a doctor, wearing the white lab coat,

and knowing how to present a ‘professional

self’, made them relax. Moreover, knowing

four doctors from the medical school and some

health professionals from school days or

sports activities may have contributed to

being accepted, since they felt they knew me. I

started recording a few days later. I was

present at first, but soon I felt that my

presence did influence the conversation. I left

the audio-recorder on the table between the

participants, and stayed outside getting

informed consent from the next patient. This

was a success: generally, the patients were

very positive. “This is not state secrets” one

patient said, and often both participants

forgot the recorder, which indicates that the

recorded conversations are as close to

“reality” as possible. Since ‘sexual quality of

life’ may not be part of every conversation, I

had to make a significant number of

recordings.

My overall approach is opportunistic,

enrolling patients as they arrived for

appointments. I attempted to get recordings

involving both male and female patients,

spanning all age groups and the two types of

Diabetes as well as different health

professionals, since my interest is the general

pattern of conversation rather than the

individual communicative style of a given

participant.

Some doctors, who are not native Danish

speakers, were reluctant to be audio-recorded.

However, doctors with an accent are not my

analytic focus, so accent disappears in the

transcripts. Some doctors were concerned

about the nature of the data I would obtain.

Firstly, the conversation may differ if they

have known the patient for several years or

have met them only once, indicating that they

may not ask questions asked before or

considered irrelevant at the present moment.

Secondly, since I am not accessing the

patients’ files, would I understand the whole

context? I responded by saying that I can

analyse the recordings on their own, but I

would try to recover some of the context in the

recording, which will be supplemented by

more contextual information gained through

post-hoc interviews. Thirdly, some were

concerned that I might conclude or criticize

professional conduct based on the audio-

recordings, without offering them a chance to

defend themselves. Since I must base my

analyses on empirical data, I cannot just claim

anything or generalise specific observations.

They have an opportunity to explain more in

the interviews when the fieldwork is over, and

I can unpack the main topic (sexual quality of

life), without imposing bias in the recordings.

As described above, I have used my personal

relations and my professional experience and

credibility to get access to data, and I have

successfully made my recordings and

observations and have enrolled patients for

follow-up interviews. I feel I may have been

accepted by the health professionals partly

because it is difficult to reject somebody you

know, and partly because of my credibility as

a doctor. However, the conduct of the present

study, the collected data and the findings

emerging from the data as well as the

results/findings presented in any future

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Issue 4 / June 2016

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publications and the PhD-thesis must be such

that I keep my credibility as both a doctor and

a researcher. Moreover, I must accomplish this

in such a way that I keep my personal

relations intact. The solution must lie in a

strict adherence to methodology, a ‘thick

description’ of the context and a set of well-

argued conclusions evidenced in the data.

Hanne Mohapeloa

PhD student

Aalborg University, Denmark

DIHM PILOT PROJECTS

In keeping with the overall research-cum-

intervention strategy, DIHM is currently

embarking on four pilot projects. These are still

in their infancy but here we provide skeletal

outlines in order to generate interests and

possible collaborations with international

researchers in the future.

Medical Emergency Calls

and Pre-Hospital Communication

This project is a collaboration with the Pre-

hospital Emergency Services at Aalborg

University Hospital and focuses on the crucial

role communication plays in coordinated

patient care. The aim is to examine a corpus of

real-life emergency medical calls in Region

Nordjylland and the analytic task is to

determine the extent to which the patterns of

interaction are mediated by callers, call-takers,

the technology and the clinical condition itself

and the decisional outcomes that such

mediations result in. The insights will form the

basis of professional training and awareness

raising. Workshops will be targeted at specific

groups of call takers and hospital staff in order

to offer a range of communicative resources to

help them deal with emergent contingencies.

The project is currently awaiting ethical

clearance.

Research Team:

Srikant Sarangi, Director, Danish Institute of

Humanities and Medicine, Aalborg University;

Erika Frischknecht Christensen, Clinical

Professor, Aalborg University Hospital and

Aalborg University; Hans Ole Holdgaard,

Clinical Associate Professor, Aalborg University

Hospital and Aalborg University; Poul Hansen,

Head of Pre-Hospital Emergency Services,

Region Nordjylland (tbc).

Multi-Party Communication about Sensitive

Topics in the Sexology Clinic

This collaborative study with the Sexologisk

Center at Aalborg University Hospital is geared

towards documenting and analysing a corpus of

sexology clinic encounters across disease

conditions in an effort to optimise client-

professional communication. These encounters

take on a multi-party character because of the

co-presence of the patient’s family members,

which has consequences for the interaction

process as well as for the outcomes. The

analytical framework is activity analysis which

systematically maps structural and interactional

trajectories vis-à-vis participant structure and

topic management. The research findings will

assist in the development of professional

practice, based on the linkage between localised

communicative patterns and clinical outcomes,

including patient satisfaction. Workshops will

be targeted at specific groups and participants

will be encouraged to reflect on their routine

communicative practices. Ethical clearance has

already been obtained and the data collection

phase will commence soon.

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Issue 4 / June 2016

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Research Team:

Srikant Sarangi, Director, Danish Institute of

Humanities and Medicine, Aalborg University;

Astrid Højgaard, Head Physician, Sexologisk

Center, Aalborg University Hospital.

Communication of patients’ complaints in

open access calls and in writing to the

hospital

This pilot project is a collaboration with the

Senior Management at Aalborg University

Hospital. The aim is to focus on the

communication issues surrounding patients’

and caregivers’ complaints during open access

calls and in formal writing. The main purpose is

to analyse a corpus of oral and written

complaints from a communication perspective.

The systematic evidence thus generated can be

useful input for improving the quality of care to

patients and their caregivers while also

planning strategic and practical interventions at

the institutional and professional levels. The

project findings will form the basis of

professional awareness raising in the form of a

‘theme day’ at Aalborg University Hospital in

order to encourage healthcare practitioners to

reflect on ‘communication matters’ in a climate

of changing and challenging healthcare delivery.

The project has been approved by the Ethics

Committee in Region Nordjylland and will take

off after the summer break, starting with the

analysis of formal written complaints.

Research Team:

Srikant Sarangi, Director, Danish Institute of

Humanities and Medicine, Aalborg University;

Lisbeth Lagoni, Nursing Director, Aalborg

University Hospital; Morten Noreng, Medical

Director, Aalborg University Hospital; Per

Thorgaard, Head Physician and Consultant,

Aalborg University Hospital.

Communicative Practices in

Genetic Counselling

Genetic counselling in Denmark is regulated by

national guidelines. However, the actual

communicative practices inside the clinic have

not been studied closely. This project, a

collaboration between DIHM and the

Department of Clinical Genetics at Aalborg

University Hospital, aims to investigate the

genetic counselling process and to open it up to

more systematic description and evaluation.

The research findings will assist in the

development of professional practice, based on

the linkage between localised communicative

patterns and clinical outcomes. The project is

currently in the planning phase and is expected

to roll out during the fall of 2016. It is

anticipated that this project will be expanded to

include ethical issues concerning bio-banking

and personalised medicine.

Research Team:

Srikant Sarangi, Director, Danish Institute of

Humanities and Medicine, Aalborg University;

Michael Bjørn Petersen, Head Physician,

Department of Clinical Genetics, Aalborg

University Hospital; Malene Lundsgaard, MD,

Department of Clinical Genetics, Aalborg

University Hospital.

DIHM DIGEST

Issue 4 / June 2016

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TALKS & TRAVELS

The year 2015 included a very busy travel

schedule for Professor Sarangi. He was invited

for conferences, seminars, workshops and

research meetings in 13 countries around the

world (the number of air [academic?] miles

earned is anyone’s guess!). The year concluded

with a visit to the English and Foreign

Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad,

India, following a conference in New Delhi.

2016 started out at AAU in January with the

annual Workshop on Publishing in International

Journals and a specially invited Workshop on

Methodology for the MA thesis-writing students

within the International Business Communi-

cation programme. Immediately after this

Professor Sarangi spent a period of time as

Visiting Research Professor at The University of

Hong Kong. During his stay in Hong Kong, he

gave several lectures and workshops at the

Centre for Humanities and Medicine, including a

public lecture on managing epidemic risk.

Having been specially invited by Professor Elton

Kisanga, he journeyed to Tanzania in the early

spring to engage in several Faculty research

meetings at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical

University College, Moshi. He also delivered two

lectures on the themes of knowledge sharing

and communicative expertise in healthcare

delivery.

This was followed by participation at a seminar

at the Norwegian University of Science and

Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, where he

spoke about developmental disabilities

research. While in the UK, he participated in a

research group meeting at Cardiff University on

the topic of ‘Managing Multiple Roles and Goals

in Nursing Handovers’. He also attended and

delivered a lecture at the Advisory Panel

Meeting about writing in professional social

work practice (WiSP) at The Open University in

Milton Keynes.

In May he was invited as the keynote speaker at

the annual Department of Public Health

conference at University of Copenhagen. His talk

concerned the interface of communication and

ethics in healthcare and was followed by two

equally well attended workshops in the

afternoon; the first focused on managing risk

and uncertainty and the second on patient-

centredness and shared decision making.

Professor Sarangi speaking at the University of

Copenhagen, 19 May 2016

Finally, he gave a talk at a local AAU PhD course

on discourses as intervention for social change

which sported the catching title: Being a

stranger: En’gaze’ment and analytic account-

ability in discourse studies.

He will be running the 3rd DIHM Summer School

which is round the corner (27 June – 1 July

2016).

For a full list of Professor Sarangi’s lectures,

workshops, masterclasses and presentations,

visit the DIHM website: www.dihm.aau.dk

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Issue 4 / June 2016

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Here are a few of the reports about some of

Professor Sarangi’s visits.

Visit to The English and Foreign Languages

University, Hyderabad, India

Professor Srikant Sarangi was invited by the

School of English Language Education at The

English and Foreign Languages University

(EFLU), Hyderabad, India, to visit the university

and give a talk on 27th November, 2015. We

greatly appreciate the talk he gave on The

Multilingual Clinic and the Second Language

Classroom: Some Parallels and Synergies. The

talk was attended by all the research scholars in

the School of English Language Education as

well as members of the faculty from other allied

schools. There were more than 100 serious

academics attending the talk.

In the course of his talk, Professor Sarangi

focused on the use of language and the way in

which language teaching needs to mould itself

in the present day world. Language is not

confined to the classroom but extends far

beyond its boundaries and makes inroads into

almost all the professions. If this be the case,

can an applied linguist, a language teacher find

a job elsewhere? This was the moot question

that was addressed during the 90 minute

presentation.

Professor Sarangi delivering his lecture at The

English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, India

Professor Sarangi who has been working in the

field of Healthcare Delivery shared his

experiences with the audience and drew

parallels between teacher-learner interaction

with that of doctor-patient-carer talk. In

bringing home the point, Prof Sarangi drew

heavily from the literature of discourse analysis,

applied linguistics and the larger field of ELT.

He particularly emphasized how online and

offline commentaries that we often find in the

discourse of sports commentaries (examples

drawn from a Tennis and cricket) are equally

pertinent in the field of patient-doctor discourse

as well as learner-teacher interaction.

During his visit, Professor Sarangi also

interacted one-on-one with faculty and students

from EFLU to discuss their research projects.

Professor Sarangi was gracious enough to meet

some of the students from University of

Hyderabad even without prior appointments.

His insightful comments helped the young

researchers to critically reflect on the

methodological execution of their research

projects.

We would like to thank Professor Sarangi for

presenting his research on Healthcare

Communication – an area which has now

become synonymous with his name. The EFLU is

proud to have an alumnus who has archived

such heights in the broad area of Applied

Linguistics. The EFL University would like to use

this opportunity as a basis for collaboration in

the area of Medical Humanities between

Aalborg University and the EFL University. The

university is also planning to start a Centre for

Research in Medical Humanities.

Professor Sathuvalli Mohanraj

Dean, School of English Language Education,

EFL University, Hyderabad, India

DIHM DIGEST

Issue 4 / June 2016

11

Visit to the University of Hong Kong

As Visiting Research Professor (VRP) in the

Centre for the Humanities and Medicine (CHM),

Professor Sarangi spent February 2016 at the

University of Hong Kong. This was his eighth

visit to CHM and a busy schedule saw a variety

of productive interactions with faculty members

and students. These included fruitful meetings

on future research collaborations between

Professor Sarangi and Dr. Robert Peckham,

CHM’s Director.

CHM organises regular Science, Technology and

Medicine Research Seminars (STMRS),

providing an interdisciplinary forum for faculty

and postgraduate students affiliated with the

Centre to present their research. Professor

Sarangi led the discussion in a number of these

meetings. He presented a paper on ‘Health:

History and Communication’ that explored the

relevance of discourse analysis to the history of

health – specifically in the context of CHM’s

transdisciplinary health research mission.

Professor Sarangi delivering the public lecture on

Epidemic Risk: A Communication Perspective at The

University of Hong Kong

‘Infectious disease ecologies’ is an overarching

theme of the Centre and Professor Sarangi was

invited to give a public lecture with a view to

building on the STMRS discussions and

engaging with a broader HKU audience. The

talk was entitled ‘Epidemic Risk: A

Communication Perspective’ and was topically

constructed around the recent Zika virus

outbreak that originated in South America.

Using discourse analysis as a tool, Professor

Sarangi examined the portrayal of Zika’s

emergence and fears about its potential spread,

showing how risk communication offers a useful

way of contextualising the epidemic. The public

lecture and STMRS meetings fuelled many

requests for further one-on-one discussions and

meetings. A health communication research

PhD candidate at the Centre, Kai Yin Gigi Au

Yeung, is co-supervised by Professor Sarangi

and during his visit to Hong Kong, Professor

Sarangi was able meet with her for critical

supervision sessions in the lead up to the PhD

submission.

A CHM dinner was organised in appreciation of

Professor Sarangi’s valuable contributions to

the Centre, rounding off a memorable trip.

Dr. Ria Sinha

Centre for the Humanities and Medicine

The University of Hong Kong

Knowledge Sharing, Research Dissemination

and Communication in Tanzania

The ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark

through the Danida Fellowship Centre and the

Building Stronger Universities (BSU) initiative,

awarded the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical

University College (KCMUCo) the “Knowledge

Sharing, Dissemination and Communication”

grant which ran from January 2015 to March

2016. In the implementation processes, KCMUCo

worked jointly with the National institute for

Medical Research (NIMR), University of Dar-Es-

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Issue 4 / June 2016

12

Salaam, Muhimbili University of Health and

Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and Ifakara Health

Institute, in Tanzania. Facilitators included

Prof. Peter Kamuzora, Prof. Daudi Simba, Dr.

Leonard Mboera, Dr. Susan Rumisha, Dr. Hadija

Kweka, Prof. Noel Sam, Prof. Egbert Kessi and

an independent journalist, Dr. Rose Reuben. The

lead facilitator was Prof. Elton Kisanga from

KCMUCo.

The north collaborators include the Danish

Institute for Humanities & Medicine at Aalborg

University, and the University of Copenhagen in

Denmark. The broader aim underpinning the

initiative was to ensure capacity building and

translation of research findings into policy.

There is a huge need for bringing the body of

knowledge generated from research &

development (R&D) institutions and higher

education institutions in an unbiased manner to

the attention of planners, policy makers,

programme implementers and the community

at large as a way of addressing health

challenges in the Tanzanian community. A mix

of approaches and methods were used in

identifying priority policy issues, development of

policy briefs and conduct of the policy

dialogues. These included holding of a scientific

symposium, training workshops and policy

dialogues. This, therefore, requires that most

researchers explicitly demonstrate that they are

having an impact on policy and practice by

bridging the evidence-policy gap. Facilitators

were Prof. Srikant Sarangi, Dr. Hanan Zakaria,

Prof. Pascal Magnussen, Ms. Dorte Holler

Johansen and Prof. Thor Theander.

In March 2016, KCMUCo invited Professor

Srikant Sarangi to facilitate two workshops on

“Knowledge Sharing, Dissemination and

Communication”, which were very well

attended. The first workshop was attended by

Masters and Ph.D students enrolled at KCMUCo.

The second was attended by residents,

clinicians, researchers and mentors/supervisors

from Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre

(KCMC), the teaching hospital that works

closely with KCMUCo. In the first workshop,

Professor Sarangi elaborated the circular link

between research, teaching and healing by

PUTTING COMMUNICATION AT THE HEART OF

HEALTHCARE. The second workshop addressed

the topic of “Communicative Expertise in

Healthcare Professional Practice”.

Professor Sarangi delivering a lecture at the

Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College in

Tanzania, March 2016

It was a blessing to our students and research

community to have Professor Sarangi in Moshi,

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The next steps involve

having a “research communication or

Communication in medicine” module for our

undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.

KCMUCo will also continue to work with

Aalborg University in its research and capacity

building activities and in preparing joint

applications for research and training funding,

including phase-3 of the Building Stronger

Universities (BSU) initiative in 2017.

Prof. Elton R. Kisanga

Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University

College, Tanzania

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Halvorsen, K. and Sarangi, S. (2015) Team

decision-making in workplace meetings: The

interplay of activity roles and discourse roles.

Journal of Pragmatics 76: 1-14.

Sarangi, S. (2015) Experts on experts: sustaining

communities of interest in professional

discourse studies. In M. Gotti, S. Maci and M.

Sala (eds.) Insights into Medical

Communication. Bern: Peter Lang.

Sarangi, S. (2015) Owning responsible

actions/selves: Role-relational trajectories in

counselling for childhood genetic testing.

Journal of Applied Linguistics and

Professional Practice 9 (3): 295-318. Also, in

J-O Östman and A. Solin (eds.) [2016]

Discourse and Responsibility in Professional

Contexts, 37-63. Sheffield: Equinox.

Sarangi, S (2015) On displacement and

engagement: The embedding of Applied

Linguistics and Professional Practice Studies.

Journal of Applied Linguistics and

Professional Practice 6 (2): 191-214.

Sarangi, S (2015) An editorial interface: A

retrospective/prospective account. Journal of

Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice

6 (2): 115-119.

Thomassen, G., Sarangi, S. and Skolbekken, J-A.

(2015) Negotiating parental/familial

responsibility in the context of genetic risk

assessment. Journal of Applied Linguistics

and Professional Practice 9 (3): 361-386.

Also, in J-O Östman and A. Solin (eds.) [2016]

Discourse and Responsibility in Professional

Contexts, 67-95. Sheffield: Equinox.

Sarangi, S. (2016) Activity types, discourse

types and role types: interactional hybridity

in professional-client encounters. In D. R.

Miller and P. Bayley (eds.) Hybridity in

Systemic Functional Linguistics: Grammar,

Text and Discursive Context, 154-177.

Sheffield: Equinox.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

The 3rd DIHM Summer School is hosted by DIHM and takes place at Aalborg University,

27 June – 1 July 2016. More information available at: www.dihm.aau.dk

The 14th COMET Conference is hosted by DIHM and takes place at Aalborg University, 4 –

6 July 2016. The official programme is now available at: www.comet2016.aau.dk

The COMET Masterclass is hosted by DIHM and takes place at Aalborg University, 7 July

2016. More information available at www.comet2016.aau.dk

A PhD course on “Discourse Analysis in Institutional and Professional Settings” will be

hosted by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 24 – 28 October

2016. For more details contact: Gøril Thomassen, goril.thomassen@ntnu.no

A NordPal PhD course on “Oral communication in professional contexts” will be hosted

by Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, 21 – 23 November 2016.

Details will be available soon at: www.ntnu.edu/nordpal

The ALAPP Masterclass will be hosted by the University of Copenhagen, 2 November

2016. More information available at: www.alap2016.ku.dk

The 6th ALAPP Conference will be hosted by the University of Copenhagen, 3 – 5

November 2016. Visit the conference website at: www.alapp2016.ku.dk

The 15th COMET conference will be hosted by Indiana University-Purdue University

Indianapolis (IUPUI), 26-28 June 2017. More information available at:

https://liberalarts.iupui.edu/icic/pages/events-and-conferences/comet-2017.php

The Workshop on Publishing in International Journals will be hosted by DIHM and is

tentatively scheduled for January 2017. For more information, contact Bettina Jensen at

bettinaj@hum.aau.dk