Brigitte Nerlich

Contact

• workLaw and Social Sciences Building
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• Brigitte.Nerlich@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

I am Emeritus Professor of Science, Language, and Society at the Institute for Science and Society (School of Sociology and Social Policy). I studied French and philosophy in Germany and gained a DrPhil in French linguistics. After a postdoc in general linguistic at Oxford I moved to Nottingham. My current research focuses on the cultural and political contexts in which metaphors and other framing devices are used in the public, policy and scientific debates about synthetic biology and climate change. I have written books and articles on the history of linguistics, semantic change, metaphor, metonymy, polysemy and, more recently, the sociology of health and illness and the social study of science and technology. In 2011 the University of Nottingham awarded me a DLitt for my research and publications relating to the social study of metaphor.

CV

Blog: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6617-7827

Academia.edu webpage: http://nottingham.academia.edu/BrigitteNerlich

Google scholar profile: http://tinyurl.com/ku8kl8p

Bluesky: @bnerlich.bsky.social

Wakelet (blog posts ordered by themes): https://wakelet.com/@BNerlich

Past projects

Talking about gene drive, funded by Wellcome Trust, PI Sarah Hartley: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2019/06/24/talking-about-gene-drive/

3D Printing with atoms, funded by the EPSRC, PI Philip Moriarty, 2016-2019

Making Science Public, funded by a Leverhulme Trust programme grant, 2012-2017 (I led the programme until my retirement in 2016; now working on a voluntary basis)

Synthetic Biology Research Centre funded by the BBSRC and the EPSRC, 2014-2018 (I was social science lead until my retirement in 2016; now working on a voluntary basis)

Expertise Summary

I have expertise in the social study of science, the philosophy and history of science, general linguistics, cognitive linguistics, historical linguistics, history of linguistics, media and cultural studies, metaphor analysis.

Research Summary

I am Emeritus Professor of Science, Language, and Society at the Institute for Science and Society (School of Sociology and Social Policy). I studied French and philosophy in Germany and gained a… read more

Selected Publications

• JASPAL, R. and NERLICH, B., 2020. Social representations, identity threat and coping amid COVID-19 Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. advance online,
• MCLEOD, C., HADLEY KERSHAW, E. and NERLICH, B., 2020. Fearful intimacies: Covid-19 and the reshaping of human-microbial relations Anthropology in Action: Journal for Applied Anthropology in Policy and Practice. 27(2), 33-39
• MCLEOD, C., NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2019. Fecal microbiota transplants: Emerging social representations in the English-language print media New Genetics and Society: Critical Studies of Contemporary Biosciences. 38(3), 331-351
• RIBEIRO, B., HARTLEY, S., NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2018. Media coverage of the Zika crisis in Brazil: The construction of a 'war' frame that masked social and gender inequalities Social Science & Medicine.

• View all publications

Current Research

I am Emeritus Professor of Science, Language, and Society at the Institute for Science and Society (School of Sociology and Social Policy). I studied French and philosophy in Germany and gained a DrPhil in French linguistics. After a postdoc in general linguistic at Oxford I moved to Nottingham. My current research focuses on the cultural and political contexts in which metaphors and other framing devices are used in the public, policy and scientific debates about synthetic biology and climate change. I have written books and articles on the history of linguistics, semantic change, metaphor, metonymy, polysemy and, more recently, the sociology of health and illness and the social study of science and technology. In 2011 the University of Nottingham awarded me a DLitt for my research and publications relating to the social study of metaphor.

CV

Blog: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/

Academia.edu webpage: http://nottingham.academia.edu/BrigitteNerlich

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/14721723_Brigitte_Nerlich

Google scholar profile: http://tinyurl.com/ku8kl8p

Twitter: @BNerlich

Wakelet (blog posts ordered by themes): https://wakelet.com/@BNerlich

Current research projects:

Talking about gene drive, funded by Wellcome Trust, PI Sarah Hartley: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2019/06/24/talking-about-gene-drive/

3D Printing with atoms, funded by the EPSRC, PI Philip Moriarty, 2016-2019

Older projects

Making Science Public, funded by a Leverhulme Trust programme grant, 2012-2017 (I led the programme until my retirement in 2016; now working on a voluntary basis)

Synthetic Biology Research Centre funded by the BBSRC and the EPSRC, 2014-2018 (I was social science lead until my retirement in 2016; now working on a voluntary basis)

• NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2024. Mud, metaphors and politics: Meaning-making during the 2021 German floods Environmental Values. 33(3), 329-349
• MORRIS, C., PRICE, C. and NERLICH, B., 2024. Biochar in the UK Print News Media: Issue Frames and Their Implications for Opening up Debate About Land-based Greenhouse Gas Removal Environmental Communication. 33(3), 392-416
• NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2024. Mitochondrial replacement in the English-language print media: Continuity and change in metaphors and social representations New Genetics and Society: Critical Studies of Contemporary Biosciences. 43(1), online
• NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2024. Mpox in the news: Social representations, identity, stigma and coping Medical Humanities. online first,
• NERLICH, B., 2024. Biology and Society. In: RITZER, G., ed., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Wiley. online first
• JASPAL, R. and NERLICH, B., 2023. Social representations of COVID-19 skeptics: Denigration, demonization, and disenfranchisement Politics, Groups, and Identities. 11(4), 750-770
• NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2023. From danger to destination: Changes in the language of endemic disease during the COVID-19 pandemic Medical Humanities. open access,
• NERLICH, B., MORRIS, C., PRICE, C. and HARRIS, H., 2023. Biochar in the British print news media: An analysis of promissory discourse and the creation of expectations about carbon removal Science as Culture. online first,
• NERLICH and STELMACH, A., 2022. Gene drive communication: exploring experts’ lived experience of metaphor use New Genetics and Society: Critical Studies of Contemporary Biosciences. 41(1), 3-22
• STELMACH, A., NERLICH, B. and HARTLEY, S., 2022. Gene Drives in the U.K., U.S., and Australian Press (2015–2019): How a New Focus on Responsibility Is Shaping Science Communication Science Communication. online,
• NERLICH, B., 2022. Coronavirus and Covid-19: Verbal and Visual Metaphors. In: GEPHART, W. and LEKO, J., eds., In the Realm of Corona Normativities II: The permanence of the exception Vittorio Klosterman. 303-318
• JASPAL, R. and NERLICH, B., 2022. Human reactions to climate change: A social psychological perspective Climanosco Research Articles. 3, online
• DÖRING, M. and NERLICH, B., 2022. Introduction: Framing the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic Metaphor and Symbol. 37(2), 71-75
• 2022. Metaphors in Times of a Global Pandemic. In: WUPPULURI, S. and GRAYLING, A.C., eds., Metaphors and Analogies in Sciences and Humanities Springer. online
• 2022. Pandemics, metaphors and what it means to be human. In: MARTIN, P., DE SAILLE, S., LIDDIARD, K. and PEARCE, W., eds., Being Human during COVID-19 Bristol University Press. 20-28
• 2022. Making the pandemic normal Claridades: Revista de Filosofia. 14, 183-195
• NERLICH, B, 2022. Grace Andrus de Laguna: A Perspective from the History of Linguistics AUSTRALASIAN PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW. 6(1), 68–77 (In Press.)
• NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2021. Social representations of 'social distancing' in response to Covid-19 in the UK media Current Sociology. first online
• GREENHOUGH, B. ET AL., 2020. Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome Palgrave Communications. 6(18),
• JASPAL, R. and NERLICH, B., 2020. Social representations, identity threat and coping amid COVID-19 Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. advance online,
• JASPAL, RUSI and NERLICH, BRIGITTE, 2020. HIV stigma in UK press reporting of a case of intentional HIV transmission HEALTH.
• NERLICH, BRIGITTE, 2020. Creative (Climate) Communications: Productive Pathways for Science, Policy and Society PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE. 29(2), 248-250
• MCLEOD, C., HADLEY KERSHAW, E. and NERLICH, B., 2020. Fearful intimacies: Covid-19 and the reshaping of human-microbial relations Anthropology in Action: Journal for Applied Anthropology in Policy and Practice. 27(2), 33-39
• 2020. Encounters between Life and Language: Codes, Books, Machines and Cybernetics Nottingham French Studies. 59(3), 311-332
• ROSEMANN A, BALEN A, NERLICH B, HAUSKELLER C, SLEEBOOM-FAULKNER M, HARTLEY S, ZHANG X and LEE N, 2019. Heritable Genome Editing in a Global Context: National and International Policy Challenges. The Hastings Center report. 49(3), 30-42
• MCLEOD, C., NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2019. Fecal microbiota transplants: Emerging social representations in the English-language print media New Genetics and Society: Critical Studies of Contemporary Biosciences. 38(3), 331-351
• NERLICH, BRIGITTE, STELMACH, ALEKSANDRA and ENNIS, CATHERINE, 2019. How to do things with epigenetics: An investigation into the use of metaphors to promote alternative approaches to health and social science, and their implications for interdisciplinary collaboration Social Science Information. online first,
• COLLINS LC, JASPAL R and NERLICH B, 2018. Who or what has agency in the discussion of antimicrobial resistance in UK news media (2010-2015)?: A transitivity analysis Health (London, England : 1997). 22(6), 521–540
• RIBEIRO, B., HARTLEY, S., NERLICH, B. and JASPAL, R., 2018. Media coverage of the Zika crisis in Brazil: The construction of a 'war' frame that masked social and gender inequalities Social Science & Medicine.
• NERLICH, BRIGITTE, HARTLEY, SARAH, RAMAN, SUJATHA and SMITH, ALEX, eds., 2018. Science and the Politics of Openness: Here be Monsters Manchester University Press.
• NERLICH, B., 2018. Climate change through an editorial lens: (News and Views) Nature Climate Change. 8, 459–460
• MCLEOD, C, NERLICH, B and MOHR, A, 2017. Working with Bacteria and Putting Bacteria to Work: the Biopolitics of Synthetic Biology for Energy Energy Research & Social Science. 29(July), 10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.017
• JASPAL, RUSI and NERLICH, BRIGITTE, 2017. Polarised press reporting about HIV prevention: Social representations of pre-exposure prophylaxis in the UK press HEALTH. 21(5), 478-497
• MÜLLER R, HANSON C, HANSON M, PENKLER M, SAMARAS G, CHIAPPERINO L, DUPRÉ J, KENNEY M, KUZAWA C, LATIMER J, LLOYD S, LUNKES A, MACDONALD M, MELONI M, NERLICH B, PANESE F, PICKERSGILL M, RICHARDSON S, RÜEGG J, SCHMITZ S, STELMACH A and VILLA PI, 2017. The biosocial genome? Interdisciplinary perspectives on environmental epigenetics, health and society. EMBO reports. 18(10), 1677-1682
• MCLEOD C, NERLICH B and MOHR A, 2017. Working with bacteria and putting bacteria to work: The biopolitics of synthetic biology for energy in the United Kingdom. Energy research & social science. 30, 35-42
• MCLEOD C and NERLICH B, 2017. Synthetic biology, metaphors and responsibility. Life sciences, society and policy. 13(1), 13
• PORTER, A.J., KUHN, T. R. and NERLICH, B., 2017. Organizing Authority in the Climate Change Debate: IPCC Controversies and the Management of Dialectical Tensions Organization Studies.
• PEARCE, W, HARTLEY, S and NERLICH, B, 2016. Transparency: issues are not that simple Nature. 531(7592), 35
• COLLINS, L. and NERLICH, B., 2016. Uncertainty discourses in the context of climate change: A corpus-assisted analysis of UK national newspaper articles Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research. 41(3), 291–313
• NERLICH, B., 2016. The invention of nature: Viewpoint Discover Society. 35,
• SCHÄFER, M., BERGLEZ, P., WESSLER, H., EIDE, E., NERLICH, B. and O'NEILL, S., 2016. Investigating mediated climate change communication: A best-practice guide
• JASPAL R and NERLICH B, 2016. Polarised press reporting about HIV prevention: Social representations of pre-exposure prophylaxis in the UK press. Health (London, England : 1997). (In Press.)
• NERLICH B and MCLEOD C, 2016. The dilemma of raising awareness "responsibly": The need to discuss controversial research with the public raises a conundrum for scientists: when is the right time to start public debates? EMBO reports. 17(4), 481-5
• PEARCE W, HARTLEY S and NERLICH B, 2016. Transparency: issues are not that simple. Nature. 531(7592), 35
• COLLINS, LUKE C. and NERLICH, BRIGITTE, 2016. How certain is "certain'? Exploring how the English-language media reported the use of calibrated language in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE. 25(6), 656-673
• JASPAL, RUSI, NERLICH, BRIGITTE and VAN VUUREN, KITTY, 2016. Embracing and resisting climate identities in the Australian press: Sceptics, scientists and politics PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE. 25(7), 807-824
• NERLICH, BRIGITTE, 2016. Talking cleanliness in health and agriculture UK Data Archive.
• JASPAL, RUSI and NERLICH, BRIGITTE, 2016. A "morning-after' pill for HIV? Social representations of post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV in the British print media HEALTH RISK & SOCIETY. 18(5-6), 225-246
• COLLINS, L. and NERLICH, B., 2015. How certain is ‘certain’?: Exploring how the English-language media reported the use of calibrated l anguage in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report Public Understanding of Science. online first
• KOTEYKO, NELYA, NERLICH, BRIGITTE and HELLSTEN, IINA, 2015. Climate Change Communication and the Internet: Challenges and Opportunities for Research ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION-A JOURNAL OF NATURE AND CULTURE. 9(2), 149-152
• STELMACH A and NERLICH B, 2015. Metaphors in search of a target: the curious case of epigenetics. New genetics and society. 34(2), 196-218
• COLLINS LC and NERLICH B, 2015. How certain is 'certain'? Exploring how the English-language media reported the use of calibrated language in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report. Public understanding of science (Bristol, England). 25(6), 656-73
• JASPAL, R. and NERLICH, B., 2014. When climate science became climate politics: British media representations of climate change in 1988 Public Understanding of Science. 23(2), 122-141
• PEARCE, W., HOLMBERG, K., HELLSTEN, I. and NERLICH, B., 2014. Climate Change on Twitter: Topics, Communities and Conversations about the 2013 IPCC Working Group 1 Report PLOS ONE.
• HULME, MIKE, NERLICH, BRIGITTE and PEARCE, WARREN, 2014. Global warming is dead, long live global heating? Available at: <http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2504/>
• JACQUELINE RANDLE, JAMES METCALFE, HELENA WEBB, JENI CA LUCKETT, BRIGITTE NERLICH, NATHALIE VAUGHAN, JOEL SEGAL and KIM R HARDIE, 2014. Impact of an educational intervention upon the hand hygiene compliance of children BioMed Frontiers in infection.
• JASPAL R and NERLICH B, 2013. Fracking in the UK press: threat dynamics in an unfolding debate. Public understanding of science (Bristol, England). 23(3), 348-63
• NERLICH, B, FORSYTH, R and CLARKE, D. D., 2012. Climate in the news: How differences in media discourse between the US and UK reflect national priorities Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture. 6(1), 44-63
• JASPAL R and NERLICH B, 2012. When climate science became climate politics: British media representations of climate change in 1988. Public understanding of science (Bristol, England). 23(2), 122-41
• NERLICH, B., EVANS, V. and KOTEYKO, N., 2011. Low carbon diet: Reducing climate change ot human scale Language and Cognition. 3(1), 45-82
• NERLICH B and KOTEYKO N, 2011. Crying Wolf? Biosecurity And Metacommunication In The Context Of The 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic. Health & Place. (In Press.)
• NERLICH, B. AND KOTEYKO, N., 2010. Carbon gold rush and carbon cowboys: A new chapter in green mythology? Environmental Communication: A journal of nature and culture. 4(1), 37-53
• KOTEYKO, N, THELWALL, M and NERLICH, B., 2010. From Carbon Markets to Carbon Morality: Creative Compounds as Framing Devices in Online Discourses on Climate Change Mitigation Science Communication. 32(1), 25-54
• NERLICH, B., 2010. Metaphor and metonymy. In: JUCKER, A. and TAAVITSAINEN, I., eds., Historical Pragmatics Berlin, New York: De Gruyter. 193–218
• HELLSTEN, I and NERLICH, B., 2010. Bird flu: The spread of a disease outbreak through the media and Internet discussion groups Journal of Language and Politics. 9(3), 393-408
• CRAWFORD, P., BROWN, B., NERLICH, B. and KOTEYKO, N., 2010. Nutritional altruism and functional food: lay discourses on probiotics Sociology of Health and Illness. 32(5), 745-760
• CURRIE, G., KOTEYKO, N. and NERLICH, B., 2009. The dynamics of professions and development of new roles in public services organizations The case of modern matrons in the English NHS Public Administration. 87(2), 295-311
• NERLICH, B. AND KOTEYKO, N., 2009. MRSA - Portrait of a Superbug: A media drama in three acts. In: A. MUSOLFF AND J. ZINKEN, ed., Metaphor and Discourse London: Palgrave Macmillan. 153-172
• COVENEY, C.M., NERLICH, B. and MARTIN, P., 2009. Modafinil in the media: Metaphors, medicalisation and the body. Social Science and Medicine. 68(3), 487-495
• BROWN, B. NERLICH, B, CRAWFORD, P and KOTEYKO, N, AND R. CARTER, 2009. Hygiene and biosecurity: The language and politics of risk in an era of emerging infectious diseases Sociological Compass. 2(6), 1–13
• NERLICH, B. and KOTEYKO, N., 2009. Compounds, creativity and complexity in climate change communication: the case of ‘carbon indulgences’ Global Environmental Change. 19(3), 345-353
• MILLAR, K, HOBSON-WEST, P and NERLICH. B., eds., 2009. Ethical futures: Bioscience and food horizons Wageningen Academic Publishers.
• NERLICH, B. AND KOTEYKO, N., 2009. Carbon reduction activism in the UK: Lexical creativity and lexical framing in the context of climate change Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture. 3(2), 206-223
• HAMILTON, C, ADOLPHS, S and NERLICH, B., 2009. The meanings of 'risk' : a view from corpus linguistics. In: HANSEN, A, COTTLE, S, NEGRINE, R and NEWBOLD, C., eds., Mass communication research methods London: Sage.
• NERLICH, B., ELLIOTT, R. and AND LARSON, B., eds., 2009. Communicating Biological Sciences: Ethical and metaphorical dimensions Aldershot: Ashgate.
• NERLICH, B., 2009. Charles K. Ogden. In: STAMMERJOHAN, H., ed., Lexicon Grammaticorum: A bio-bibliographical companion to the history of linguistics 2nd ed.. 2. Walter de Guyter/Niemeyer. 1094-1095
• NERLICH, B and HELLSTEN, I., 2009. Beyond the human genome: Microbes, metaphors and what it means to be human in an interconnected post-genomic world New Genetics and Society. 28(1), 19-36
• NERLICH, B, BROWN, B and WRIGHT, N., 2009. The 'ins and outs' of biosecurity: Bird flu in East Anglia and the spatialisation of risk Sociologia Ruralis. 49(4), 344-359
• BUBELA T, NISBET MC, BORCHELT R, BRUNGER F, CRITCHLEY C, EINSIEDEL E, GELLER G, GUPTA A, HAMPEL J, HYDE-LAY R, JANDCIU EW, JONES SA, KOLOPACK P, LANE S, LOUGHEED T, NERLICH B, OGBOGU U, O'RIORDAN K, OUELLETTE C, SPEAR M, STRAUSS S, THAVARATNAM T, WILLEMSE L and CAULFIELD T, 2009. Science Communication Reconsidered. Nature Biotechnology. 27(6), 514-8
• NERLICH, B, ELLIOTT, R and LARSON, B, eds., 2009. Communicating biological sciences: ethical and metaphorical dimensions Farnham, Surrey, England ; Ashgate.
• NERLICH B, 2009. "The post-antibiotic apocalypse" and the "war on superbugs": catastrophe discourse in microbiology, its rhetorical form and political function. Public understanding of science (Bristol, England). 18(5), 574-88; discussion 588-90
• BROWN, B., CRAWFORD, P., NERLICH, B. and KOTEYKO, N., 2008. The habitus of hygiene: discourses of cleanliness and infection control in nursing work Social Science and Medicine. 67(7), 1047-1055
• BROWN B, CRAWFORD P, NERLICH B and KOTEYKO N, 2008. The habitus of hygiene: discourses of cleanliness and infection control in nursing work. Social science & medicine (1982). 67(7), 1047-55
• NERLICH, B. and HALLIDAY, C., 2007. Avian flu: the creation of expectations in the interplay between science and the media Sociology of Health & Illness. 29(1), 46-65
• NERLICH B and HALLIDAY C, 2007. Avian flu: the creation of expectations in the interplay between science and the media. Sociology of health & illness. 29(1), 46-65
• WALLIS, P. and NERLICH, B., 2005. Disease metaphors in new epidemics: the UK media framing of the 2003 SARS epidemic Social Science & Medicine. 60(11), 2629-2639
• NERLICH B, JOHNSON S and CLARKE DD, 2005. The first 'designer baby': the role of narratives, cliches and metaphors in the year 2000 media debate. Science as culture. 12(4), 471-98
• NERLICH B and HELLSTEN I, 2005. Genomics: shifts in metaphorical landscape between 2000 and 2003. New genetics and society. 23(3), 255-68
• WALLIS P and NERLICH B, 2005. Disease metaphors in new epidemics: the UK media framing of the 2003 SARS epidemic. Social science & medicine (1982). 60(11), 2629-39
• NERLICH, B. and HELLSTEN, I., 2004. Genomics: shifts in metaphorical landscape between 2000 and 2003 New Genetics and Society. 23(3), 255-268
• NERLICH B and CLARKE DD, 2004. Anatomy of a media event: how arguments clashed in the 2001 human cloning debate. New genetics and society. 22(1), 43-59
• NERLICH, B., JOHNSON, S. and CLARKE, D. D., 2003. THE FIRST 'DESIGNER BABY': The Role of Narratives, Cliches and Metaphors in the Year 2000 Media Debate Science as Culture. VOL 12(VOL 4), 471-498
• NERLICH, B and CLARKE, DD, 2003. Anatomy Of A Media Event: How Arguments Clashed In The 2001 Human Cloning Debate New Genetics And Society. 22(1), 43-59
• NERLICH, B, 1990. Change in language: Whitney, Bréal and Wegener London : Routledge.
• NERLICH, BRIGITTE, in the news: How differences in media discourse between the US and UK reflect national priorities Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture. 6(1), 44-63
• JASPAL, R. and NERLICH, B., Fracking in the UK Press: Threat Dynamics in an Unfolding Debate Public Understanding of Science. 23(3), 348-63