The people

Maria has been an active researcher for the last 10 years and her expertise lies in the fields of (Critical) Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics. 

She has extensive experience in corpus design and analysis and holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Sunderland, UK. 

She has gained valuable experience in the Third Sector working as a Research and Learning Consultant for a leading UK-based social enterprise. 

She has co-designed and updated the research strategy of a large EU-funded employability project in the North East of England. 

Her most recent research project has focused on the design and development of a series of Evaluation Reports that looked closely into a variety of issues, such as Unemployment and Economic Inactivity in the North East, Understanding Disengagement, Understanding Employer Engagement, Analysing Participant Qualitative and Quantitative feedback, and Empowering People with Multiple Barriers to Employment. 

Maria is an expert in analysing qualitative and quantitative data and generating insightful reports that provide actionable recommendations.

She has also published articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters in the area of Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics. Her book, The Language of Employability, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022. 

Key skills 

• Experience in managing long-term research projects, including academic and third-sector projects. 
• Specialist knowledge in employability and skills, with a focus on partnerships and collaborative working.
• Project review and evaluation. 
• Performance measurement and improvement, including qualitative analysis and the use of customer's voice in service development. 
• Expert in innovative linguistic analyses using academic methodologies and tools.

Qualifications

PhD Linguistics 

BA (Hons) English Language and Literature 

MSc Constructions Management

BSc Civil Infrastructure Engineering 

Awards

Oct 2014 | University of Sunderland - Fully-Funded Three-year PhD Scholarship

Nov 2023 | UK Evaluation Society - Ipsos Early Career Evaluator

Publications 

• Fotiadou, M. (In preparation) Delivering Social Inclusion Programmes That Prioritise People and Their Needs: The Case of Wise Steps in the North East of England. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Fotiadou, M. (2023) 'Analysing qualitative Feedback using Corpus Linguistics tools: The case of Wise Steps in the North East of England'.  Evaluation Practice. UK Evaluation Society.
• Fotiadou, M. (2022) The Language of Employability. Palgrave MacMillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-10252-3 
• Fotiadou, M. (2021) ‘We are here to help you: Understanding the role of careers and employability services in UK universities’. Text & Talk. https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2019-0162 
• Fotiadou, M. (2020) Review of Keywords in the Press: The New Labour Years, by Lesley Jeffries and Brian Walker. Journal of Language and Politics, 19 (1), pp. 184-187.
• Fotiadou, M. (2020) ‘Denaturalising the discourse of competition in the graduate job market and the notion of employability: A corpus-based study of UK university websites’. Critical Discourse Studies. 17 (3), pp. 260-291. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17405904.2018.1546606 
• Fotiadou, M. (2017) ‘'Defending Ourselves': British Female Martial Arts Students in the 1970s’, in Smith, A. (ed.), Re-reading Spare Rib. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 137-157. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-49310-7 
• Fotiadou, M. (2016) Review of Discourse and Democracy: Critical Analysis of the Language of Government, by Michael Farrelly. Critical Discourse Studies, 13 (3), pp. 356-358.

Conference Presentations 

• Fotiadou, M. (2023) ‘Analysing qualitative feedback using Corpus Linguistics tools: The case of Wise Steps in the North East of England’. Presented at: UK Evaluation Society Annual Conference. 2 - 4 October 2023, London, UK.
• Fotiadou, M. (2017) ‘Competitive job markets’ and ‘employable graduates’. A corpus-based critical discourse analysis of UK universities’ Careers and Employability web pages’. Presented at: The 9th International Corpus Linguistics Conference. 24 - 28 July 2017, Birmingham, UK.
• Fotiadou, M. (2017) ‘The Discourse of Careers ‘Experts’ in UK University Websites: A corpus-based critical discourse analysis’. Presented at: 12th Newcastle upon Tyne Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics. 31 March 2017, Newcastle, UK.
• Fotiadou, M. (2016) ‘Preparing Higher Education students for the ‘world of work’. Careers advisers’ expert roles in UK Universities: A critical corpus-based discourse analysis’. Presented at: Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines. 5 September 2016, Catania, Italy.
• Fotiadou, M. (2016) ‘We are here to help’: A diachronic study of careers services’ discourse in UK university websites. Poster Exhibited at: 11th Lancaster University International Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics and Language Teaching. 11 July 2016, Lancaster, UK.
• Fotiadou, M. (2016) ‘A Diachronic Study of the Discourse of Employability in UK University Websites.’ Presented at: Critical Approaches to Research: 2016 Postgraduate Conference at the University of Sunderland. 21 June 2016, Sunderland, UK.
• Fotiadou, M. (2016) ‘Careers Advisers’ Expert Roles in UK University Websites: A Critical Corpus-based Discourse Analysis’. Presented at: Discourse, Culture and Politics: An interdisciplinary symposium in the Humanities and Social Sciences. 18 May 2016, Newcastle, UK.
• Fotiadou, M. (2015) ‘Have you developed your entrepreneurial skills? Looking back to the development of a skills-oriented Higher Education’. Poster Exhibited at: 8th International Corpus Linguistics conference. 21-24 July 2015, Lancaster, UK.