Jessica de Villiers

Jessica de Villiers is an Associate Professor and Language Coordinator at the Department of English Language and Literatures, Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia. Her research bridges discourse analysis, clinical linguistics, and pragmatics in health contexts, with a socio-cognitive linguistic framework applied to autism and neurocognitive communication studies. She collaborates on the ACTE project (Autism in Context: Theory and Experience) with Université libre de Bruxelles, funded by Fonds National de Recherche Scientifique and others.

• Education: BA, MA, PhD from York University
• Teaching: Focuses on activity-based learning in discourse, conversation, and pragmatics, emphasizing social aspects of language.

Key Research Themes: Interdisciplinary pragmatics, emotion detection in discourse, coherence analysis, autism communication disorders, and clinical discourse methodologies. Her 2016 Med Sci article and 2010 Cambridge University Press book highlight autism and neurocognition intersections.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Peter Wall Early Career Scholar (2009)
  • Killam Faculty Research Fellowship (2011)
  • SSHRC and CIHR Funding
  • Hampton Research Endowment Fund
• Collaborations: ACTE project with Université libre de Bruxelles and Foundation Wiener-Anspach

Email: devillie@mail.ubc.ca | Office: Buchanan Tower 409