Ansaldo Umberto

Professor Ansaldo’s disciplinary roots line in linguistics, more specifically in the study of language contact, linguistic typology, and language documentation. He is the author of four books to date (with CUP, OUP, Routledge and Stockholm University Press), has edited or co-edited a further 11 volumes and journal special collections, and has authored multiple journal articles and book chapters. In the last 15 years, Prof Ansaldo has been engaged in leadership in institutions across Asia and Australia. At the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Umberto led the Humanities Area of Inquiry on the Common Core Curriculum Committee, in HKU’s major revision of its curriculum (2010-2013), a time when, along with the University of Melbourne, HKU was pioneering the reimagining of undergraduate curricula. As Chair of Linguistics, he was instrumental in establishing the Department in the top ten programs in Linguistics worldwide (QS rankings). In Australia, Umberto led two large HASS Schools at The University of Sydney and Curtin, covering capital projects, research strategy, curriculum development and innovation, fundraising and professional development. Umberto has throughout his career been succesfull in securing competitive research grants and leveraging industry funding for the advancement of the humanities and social sciences. One of his proudest achievements was his role in securing financial support to develop and host an exhibition on language and brain, the Talking Brains exhibition that launched successfully at the Cosmo Caixa (Barcelona Science Museum) in 2017.