Prof Johan Siebers

Biography

I am Professor of Philosophy of Language and Communication, based in the Department of Law and Social Sciences. I am also the University's Theme Director for Sustainable Communities and the Environment. My work is located at the crossroads of philosophy, rhetoric, linguistics and communication studies.

I studied philosophy, Dutch language and literature and general linguistics at Radboud University, Nijmegen, where my teacher (and lifelong friend) was the late Pieter Seuren. I did my MA (in philosophy of language) there. My first academic post was as a research fellow in philosophy at Leiden University, where I obtained my doctorate in 1998.

From 1999-2006 I worked for Royal Dutch Shell in a number of roles, especially on scenario planning, external affairs and communication. During this time I was also a part-time lecturer at Leiden University and a visiting fellow at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies of the School of Advanced Study, University of London (then called Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies). 

From 2006-2014 I worked at the University of Central Lancashire, first as Senior Lecturer, later Reader in the English Department. I designed and led the MA in Rhetoric there. Since 2015 I have been at Middlesex University, first as Associate Professor and since 2022 as Professor of Philosophy of Language and Communication. I maintain an Associate Fellowship at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, where I am director of the Ernst Bloch Centre for German Thought.

I have held visiting appointments at the Research Centre for Classical German Philosophy, Bochum University; the Department of Rhetoric, University of Tübingen; the Department of Philosophy, Tel Aviv University; the German Department, Sheffield University and St. Mary's University London, among others.

Teaching

Currently I teach communication on the BA Sociology. I also host a public research seminar in German philosophy at the School of Advanced Study. My teaching experiences have included undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in history and theory of rhetoric, history of philosophy, communication theory, English syntax, language in literature, metaphysics and epistemology, social theory, sociology of religion, research methods in the humanities, philosophy of education.