People: Director

Kay O'Halloran

Kay O’Halloran is Director of the Multimodal Analysis Lab, National University of Singapore.  She is Associate Professor in the Department of English Language & Literature at the National University of Singapore where she has been teaching and undertaking research in multimodal discourse analysis since 1998.

Kay O’Halloran is an internationally recognised scholar in multimodal analysis and she has given plenary addresses on multimodal approaches to mathematics and science and the use of digital technology for multimodal analysis at international conferences in Australia, England, Japan, Italy, Austria and Finland. Kay O’Halloran established the multimedia laboratory, the Laboratory for Research in Semiotics (LRS) in the Department of English Language & Literature in 2000 to undertake research in multimodality with her Semiotics Research Group (SRG).  She is editor of Multimodal Discourse Analysis (2004, reprinted 2006), a volume featuring her postgraduate students’ research in multimodality, and her latest publications include Mathematical Discourse: Language, Symbolism and Visual Images (2005). She developed Systemics 1.0 software for linguistic analysis, in collaboration with Associate Professor Kevin Judd (Mathematics Department, University of Western Australia) in 2002.

Kay O’Halloran received her Ph.D. degree in Communication Studies from Murdoch University (Western Australia), and her B.Sc. (mathematics), Dip.Ed. and B.Ed. (1st Class Honours) from the University of Western Australia.

Kay O'Halloran is plenary speaker at these international conferences in 2007 - 2009

• 1st Finnish Symposium on Functional Linguistics and Multisemiotic Discourse Analysis
  Developing & Using Interactive Digital Media (IDM) for Multimodal Discourse Analysis: Research in the Multimodality Lab, Interactive Digital Media Institute (IDMI), Singapore
  University of Helsinki, Finland 4-7 July 2007

• Semiotic Margins: Reclaiming Meaning Conference
  Inter-Semiotic Expansion of Meaning: Hierarchical Scales and Metaphor in Mathematics Discourse
  University of Sydney, Australia 10-12 December 2007
  

• Identity in Text Interpretation and Everyday Life Conference
  Texts, Identity, and Everyday Life in the Digital Age
  Hermeneutic Study and Education of Textual Configuration (HERSETEC)
  Global Centre of Excellence (COE) Program  
  Nagoya University, Japan 9-10 Feb 2008  

• 35th Systemic Functional Congress (ISFC35)
  Multimodality Around the World: Past, Present and Future Directions for Research
  Macquarie University, Sydney Australia 21-25 July 2008

• University of Malaya Conference on Discourse and Society (UMDS) 2008
  Multimodal Discourse Analysis: Theory and Practice
  University of Malaya, Malaysia 14-15 August 2008

• Disciplinarity, Knowledge and Language Symposium
  Accumulating Knowledge across Semiotic Resources and Modalities
  University of Sydney, Australia 8-10 December 2008

• The Territoire / Places of Writing Studies in Higher Education: Canadian and International Perspectives
  A Multimodal Approach to Discourse Studies: A Paradigm with New Research Questions, Agendas and Directions for the Digital Age
  Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada 24-26 May 2009

Kay O'Halloran GCOE Conference Nagoya - February 2008

Kay O'Halloran is invited speaker at these seminars and workshops in 2007 - 2008

• Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis Approach to Mathematics and Science Discourse
  Graduate Institute of Science Education Seminar
  National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan 7 June 2007

• From Systemic Functional Linguistics to Multimodal Discourse Analysis
  Department of Foreign Languages and Applied Linguistics Seminar
  Yuan Ze University, Taipei, Taiwan 8 June 2007
  

• Systemic Functional Tools for Multimodal Analysis of Social Relations and Ideas
  Social Disorganisation and Human Evolution: Media Disruption of Social Transmission Workshop
  Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom, 24-27 September 2008