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Information about the NSC Staff

The NSC has a director, four members of academic staff and two members of administrative staff. You can find out more about who we are either by clicking on the relevant name below, or simply scrolling down the page.

The Director:

Professor Anka Ryal l

The Academic Staff (in order of appointment to the NSC):

The Administrative Staff:

Felicity Jones

Lisbeth Mathers

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The Director

Professor Anka Ryall

Anka Ryall is acting as NSC Director, 2010–2012. She has taught English literature at the University of Tromsø for twenty years and now has an adjunct professorhip in gender studies there. Much of her research has been focussed on travel literature and questions of gender, but she has also written about northern travel narratives and been co-leader of a large research project titled ”Arctic Discourses”.

Among her many publications is a collection (in English) of articles about Mary Wollstonecraft’s journey to Scandinavia in 1795 and a book (in Norwegian) about women’s travel writing, Odyssevs i skjørt (Odysseus in Skirts). Most recently she has published a book (also in Norwegian) about Virginia Woolf’s literary border crossings, Virginia Woolf. Litterære grensoverganger. With professor Heidi Hansson, Umeå University, she is currently writing a book about nineteenth-century Anglophone narratives about journeys to northern Fenno-Scandinavia.

Email: anka.ryall@york.ac.uk

Phone: External: +44 (0)1904 323239

Internal: 3239

Office: QUH/009

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Academic Staff

Tim Vicary

Tim is currently the Director of Studies.

Hi. I’m Tim Vicary. On my short course modules I teach about political issues in Britain today - politics, education, crime, the problem of terrorism, Britain’s special relationship with the US, and the role of the press. I currently teach a fordypnings course called The Special Relationship: America's Friend or America's Poodle?

Before coming to the Norwegian Study Centre I was a schoolteacher, and my publications include several coursebooks for students of English in Norwegian videregende schools, and many graded readers in the Oxford Bookworms series for students of English as a foreign language, published by Oxford University Press.

In 2010 and 2011 my books Titanic and The Everest Story were each declared winners of a Language Learner Literature Award by the Extensive Reading Foundation.

I have also published three crime novels set in York, and three historical novels. All of these are available online on the Amazon Kindle. You can read more about them on my website www.timvicary.com

I’m married, and have two grown-up daughters. I try to keep fit by running and horse riding.

Email: tim.vicary@york.ac.uk

Phone: External: +44 (0)1904 323237

Internal: 3237

Office: QUH/008

You can find out more about Tim and some of the books he has written by visiting his personal website.

Dr. Megan Roughley

Education: BA & MA (University of British Columbia),

DPhil (University of York)

Current Research Interests: Race Relations in the UK; History of Racism; Modern/Post-Modern Literatures; Critical Theory

Megan has taught in universities in Canada, Australia and in the UK in the areas of Literatures in English, Critical Theory, Media Studies and Women’s Studies. She has been with the NSC since 1998.

Email: meg.roughley@york.ac.uk

Phone: External: +44 (0)1904 324610

Internal: 4610

Office: QUH/002

Dr. Lalita Murty

I joined the Norwegian Study Centre in 2003 after completing my post doctoral research in spoken word recognition in Holland. My main research interests lie within the field of applied linguistics and range from World English to issues of intelligibility of accents. At the NSC I teach courses on Spoken Interaction, English as a World Language and Discourse Analysis.

I come from India where I worked for 5 years before coming to the UK to study for a Ph.D. Though I come from India, I do not eat curry, nor do I care much for Bollywood!

Email: lalita.murty@york.ac.uk

Phone: External: +44 (0)1904 323240

Internal: 3240

Office: QUH/007

Dr Beck Sinar (BA, MA, PhD, University of York)

Beck is currently the Fordypning Coordinator.

Beck came to York University in 1997 for an undergraduate degree in linguistics with literature, and since then she has simply refused to leave. She now teaches all kinds of things about the English Language (yes, even the swearwords!), whilst continuing to do research into variation and change in the History of English.

When not doing this, Beck can usually be found crawling around the floor with her dog, Jack, and toddle waddling daughter, Zoe.

You can find out more about Beck, her teaching, and her research by visiting her personal website.

Email: beck.sinar@york.ac.uk

Phone: External: +44 (0) 1904 323238

Internal: 3238

Office: QUH/003

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Administrative Staff

Felicity Jones (Full Time)

Felicity is the office manager. She is responsible for departmental finances, purchasing, school visits, home visits and many other “bits and bobs”. She organises accommodation for the fordypning students and together with the NSC Director and Fordypning Coordinator administers the fordypning and MA courses.

A music graduate of Bretton Hall College (Leeds University), she is a keen amateur musician. In her spare time she plays in several York amateur orchestras: York Guildhall Orchestra, Academy of St Olave's, York Symphony Orchestra, a couple of chamber ensembles and sings in the village choir.

She and her husband Peter have a handsome cat.

Email: felicity.jones@york.ac.uk

Phone: External: +44 (0)1904 324612

Internal: 4612

Office: QUH/017

Lisbeth Mathers (Part Time)

Lisbeth was born and lived in Denmark until she moved to England in 1973.

Since then she has lived in Oman and Kuwait for nearly 20 years before coming back to the UK. She has been with the NSC for 8 years and deals with all the short courses. She lives on a farm outside York with her husband and golfing son!

Email: lisbeth.mathers@york.ac.uk

Phone: External: +44 (0)1904 323235

Internal: 3235

Office: The Reception, QUH/001

Last Updated: 1st December 2011 by Beck

Recent comments from students about the staff include:

Never in my life have I experienced academic excellence of this kind.

(Anonymous, Fordypning

Spring 2010)