Editorial

Srikant Sarangi Cardiff University, United Kingdom Srikant Sarangi is Professor in Language and Communication and Director of the Health Communication Research Centre at Cardiff University, UK. His research interests are in discourse analysis and applied linguistics; language and identity in public life and institutional/professional communication studies (e.g., healthcare, social welfare, bureaucracy, education etc.). He currently holds several project grants (Funding bodies include The Wellcome Trust, The Leverhulme Trust, ESRC) to study various aspects of health communication, e.g., genetic counselling, Quality of Life in HIV/AIDS and Telemedicine. The other areas of healthcare research include communication in primary care, palliative care, with particular reference to assessment of consulting and communication skills. He is author and editor of 6 books, 5 journal special issues and has published over 150 journal articles and book chapters. He is the founding editor of Communication & Medicine as well as editor, since 1998, of TEXT & TALK: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse and Communication Studies (formerly TEXT), and (with C. N. Candlin) of Journal of Applied Linguistics. He is also general editor (with C. N. Candlin) of three book series[es]: Studies in Applied Linguistics, Studies in Language and Communication, and Communication in Organisations and Professions. He serves as an editorial board member for other journals and book series[es], and as a consulting advisor at many national and international levels. His involvement in professional societies include membership of the Executive Committee of the British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL, 1997-2002) and Member-at-Large of the Executive Board of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA, 1999-2002). He is also the founder of the annual interdisciplinary conference series, Communication, Medicine and Ethics (COMET) and of The COMET Society. In addition he has held visiting academic attachments in many parts of the world. For more details, visit www.cf.ac.uk/encap/hcrc