Dr Kate Scott

I have extensive experience of teaching and curriculum development across undergraduate, postgraduate and research courses. I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA and was awarded the KU Provost's Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching in 2022. My textbook Pragmatics in English (Cambridge University Press) has been adopted internationally as a core teaching text and has been described as 'a masterful introduction to the major pragmatic theories' and 'a must-read for all students of pragmatics'.

As Head of Department for Humanities (2019-2021), I oversaw learning and teaching across a suite of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including English, Creative Writing, Philosophy and pre-sessional English. My responsibilities included curriculum leadership, quality assurance, workload management, and assessment strategies, as well as supporting programme teams through the transition to online and hybrid delivery during the Covid-19 period.

I have designed, taught and assessed modules and programmes across levels 3-7, and I have supervised a range of undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research dissertations. I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA and assess of fellowship applications through the Kingston KAPS scheme. In 2022, I received the Kingston Provost's Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching for my work embedding employability-focused innovations into the curriculum.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
• Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (SFHEA)

My research focuses on pragmatic inference across linguistic, visual and digitally mediated communication. Grounded in relevance theory, my work examines how utterances, images, literary and multimodal texts are interpreted, with a particular focus on digitally mediated and mass communication.

I am currently undertaking a funded Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2025-2026) which develops a new theoretical model of utterance interpretation in non-dyadic and mass-audience contexts.

I have published widely, including two monographs, two edited volumes, book chapters, and articles in internationally recognised journals. I have presented my work internationally including as an invited and keynote speaker.

I am an experienced research leader and mentor, directing research across the School of Design, leading the research activities of the Writing Cultures Research Group, and co-directing the Relevance Researchers' Network. I am Deputy Ethics Lead, REF internal review panel member, Senior Researcher Representative on the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee, and a member of the leadership team for the Design, Arts and Creative Practice KERI.

I am an active supervisor and examiner of postgraduate research projects. I have supervised PhD and MA by Research students working on pragmatics, second language acquisition, and digitally mediated communication. I welcome proposals from prospective PhD or MA by Research students working in pragmatics, visual communication, typography, relevance theory, or digitally-mediated communication. I regularly lead workshops in research skills development for postgraduate research students and early career academics.

I regularly review for leading journals and publishers and serve as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Pragmatics.

Qualifications

• Research Director of Writing Cultures Research Group, Kingston University
• Co-director of Relevance Researchers' Network

Specialisms

• Pragmatics
• Digitally-Mediated Communication
• Typography
• Reference
• Relevance Theory

Scholarly affiliations

• UCL Summer Course in English Phonetics
• Scientific Committee for EPICS IX International Symposium
• Scientific Committee for Beyond Meaning International Conference

Through my role as School Director, I have a strong understanding of Knowledge Exchange agendas and priorities and have an emerging personal profile in this area. I have led funded KE projects and delivered consultancies with local businesses, as well as chairing a cross-institutional Cluster working with local government and businesses to support growth and regeneration.

As School Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange in the School of Design, KSA, I provide strategic leadership for research and knowledge exchange activity across the departments of Graphic Design, Illustration Animation, Fashion and 3D Design. I sit on the School Management Group and am a member of the Design, Arts and Creative Practice KERI leadership team, contributing to School and Faculty-level research strategy and delivery.

From 2019 to 2021 I was the Head of Department for Humanities, School of Arts, Culture and Communication, KSA, with responsibility for all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in English, Creative Writing and Philosophy, alongside the pre-sessional English provision, Kingston Language Scheme (KLS) and the English for Academic and Professional Development Programme (EAPD) programmes. I line-managed more than 30 academic staff and held responsibility for departmental budgets, staffing, workload planning, and quality-assurance processes and resources. This role included leading the department through a period of significant change during the Covid‑19 pandemic. I have also acted as Head of Department for both Drama and Graphic Design to cover absences and I have deputised for Heads of School, Associate Dean for Research and KERI Director.

At university and faculty level, I hold a number of governance and leadership roles. I am Faculty Deputy Ethics Lead, Senior Researcher Representative on the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee, and a member of the internal REF review panel. I also direct the research activities of the Writing Cultures Research Group, and am the co-founder of the Relevance Researchers Network, an international research community.  I serve as the Chair of the Big South London Creative and Digital Innovation Cluster, leading collaborative initiatives that support creative and digital businesses across the region and strengthen civic engagement and knowledge exchange.

My leadership approach centres on fostering inclusive, interdisciplinary research cultures, supporting excellence and ambition in research and knowledge exchange practice, and aligning local academic priorities with institutional values and strategic goals.

University responsibilities

• School Director of Research, Business and Innovation
• Head of Department (May 2019 - February 2021)