WA Distinguished Professors’ Lectures Series features internationally renowned scholars visiting the Faculty of English to share their research and professional expertise with the faculty and students. This time we have the honour to host Prof. Roel Vismans (University of Sheffield), who will deliver a lecture “Address and politeness. A theoretical exploration” that will take place on 18 April 2023 (Tuesday) at 15:00 in Sala Górna.

Professor Vismans’s current research covers politeness in Dutch, especially the use of forms of address and since 2013 he has been an active member of the International Network of Address Research. He is also interested in contrastive linguistic studies on Dutch and its immediate Germanic neighbours (English and German) and has been involved in the so-called ‘Germanic Sandwich’ conferences since 2006. In the past he has also carried out research into Dutch durative constructions; Dutch modal particles; computer-assisted language learning; Dutch word order, accentuation and intonation; the integration of language and culture in courses in Dutch as a foreign language; and the history of Dutch Studies in the UK. He is a member of the Centre for Dutch and Flemish Studies. He was the Founding President of the Association for Low Countries Studies in Great Britain and Ireland (1996 - 2002) and its Treasurer between 2004 and 2008. Between 1994 and 2003 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Internationale Vereniging voor Neerlandistiek (International Association for Dutch Studies; Hon. Secretary 1997-2000, Hon. Treasurer 2000-2003). Between 2000 and 2009 he was also on the editorial board of the IVN’s journal, Internationale Neerlandistiek. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the University Council for Modern Languages at the University of Sheffield (2015-18).