Ben Rampton

Ben Rampton is a Professor of Applied and Socio-Linguistics at King's College London, affiliated with the School of Education, Communication & Society and the Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication. He previously directed the Centre for Language Discourse & Communication (founded by him) and the King’s Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Centre (2011-2014). He is an Honorary Doctorate recipient from the University of Copenhagen and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Royal Anthropological Institute.

His research focuses on ethnographic and interactional discourse analysis, addressing topics such as urban multilingualism, youth culture, securitisation, language education, and research methodology. He has held editorial roles in journals like Journal of Sociolinguistics and Applied Linguistics, and edits the Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies series. His work frequently intersects with anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.

Rampton supervises PhD students in areas including multilingualism, language policy, and sociolinguistic citizenship. His recent publications explore linguistic citizenship in England, securitisation discourse, and interdisciplinary approaches to memory studies. He has contributed to projects on language education coalitions and the methodological challenges of linguistic ethnography.

• Education: PhD (1987), MA (1978), and BA (1976) from the University of London, University of London, and University of York, respectively.
• Grants/Projects: Includes research on memory politics, language socialization in diasporas, and sociolinguistics and security funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.

Rampton leads initiatives like the Hub for Education and Language Diversity (HELD), collaborating with academic and third-sector organizations. His teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sociolinguistics, language and power, and research methodology.