Biography

My professional life has oscillated primarily between two cities of comparable size and beauty, Oldenburg in the North of Germany and Cork in the South of Ireland.

I studied German, English, History, Political, Social and Educational Sciences at Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg from 1975-81. Subsequently, from 1982 - 1987, I held a position as lecturer/DAAD-Lektor at the German Department, National University of Ireland, University College Cork (UCC). Having been awarded a scholarship by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst / German Exchange Service), I returned to North Germany to complete a PhD-research project and a special drama/theatre training course at Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg. There I also lectured in German Studies, Intercultural Education and Drama/Theatre Pedagogy from 1988 until 1994, when I returned to Ireland with my wife and two children. I have been at University College Cork ever since, currently holding a position as Senior Lecturer and Head of German.

While my academic home discipline is German Studies/German as a Foreign language, my teaching and research is characterised by a distinctly interdisciplinary orientation.

My diverse research activities, focusing primarily on the interrelationship between foreign/second language education and the “aesthetic field” (including theatre, film, music, visual art, dance, performance art), are complemented by consultancies, master classes, workshops and lectures for universities and cultural institutes in different parts of the world (for details click here). I am the founder and co-editor of SCENARIO, a bilingual (English – German) peer-reviewed online journal for Drama and Theatre in Foreign and Second Language Education (http://scenario.ucc.ie).

Given the interdisciplinary orientation in my teaching and research and special interest in aspects of German/Austrian/Swiss Drama and Theatre of the 20th and 21st centuries, I continue to represent the Department of German on two inter-departmental programmes at UCC, the undergraduate and postgraduate programme in Drama and Theatre Studies and the MA Programme in Applied Linguistics. I was Director of the MA-Programme in Applied Linguistics and Board of Linguistics from 2001 - 2005 and currently co-ordinate the MA in German Studies as well as the Applied Drama and Theatre Pathway of the MA in Drama and Theatre Studies.

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