Ljiljana Saric is a Professor of South Slavic linguistics at the Department of Literature, Area Studies, and European Languages (ILOS) at the University of Oslo. Her academic work bridges linguistic theory with practical applications in understanding cultural and political discourse in the Balkan region, with particular expertise in cognitive linguistics, semantics, and pragmatics. She maintains an active research profile with numerous publications and leads significant research initiatives focused on South Slavic languages and discourse. Professor Saric's research interests span cognitive linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, and multimodality, with a specific focus on South Slavic languages. Her work examines verbal prefixes, metaphors, metonymies, and symbols in political discourse, multimodal presentation of migration in South Slavic media, and impoliteness in online communication. She investigates how language shapes and reflects cultural identity, particularly in the context of Central Europe and the Balkans. Her research demonstrates how linguistic structures reveal deeper cognitive patterns and social dynamics, especially regarding emotion representation, national identity construction, and discursive othering processes. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on metaphorical conceptualization of emotions (particularly hope and despair in Croatian), impoliteness strategies in online communication, and visual representation of migration in Balkan media. Her work demonstrates sophisticated integration of cognitive linguistic theory with discourse analysis, often employing corpus-based methodologies. A strong theme across her research is the examination of how language constructs national and cultural identities, particularly in post-conflict societies of the former Yugoslavia. Her publications frequently employ multimodal analysis, recognizing the interplay between verbal and visual communication in contemporary media environments. Professor Saric is actively involved in several significant research initiatives, including leading the project 'Spatial Constructions in South Slavic: Semantics of Prefixes and Cognate Prepositions,' which brings together international scholars studying conceptualization of space in Slavic languages. She participates in multiple research groups including Area Studies, Figurative Communication, Migration and borders identity in discourses, Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Central Europe and the Balkans, and Pragmatics: Theory & Experiments. Her editorial work extends across numerous international journals including Languages in Contrast, Linguistics Applied, Oslo Studies in Language, and Croatian Studies Review. Her academic contributions include co-editing the volume 'Metaphor, Nation and Discourse' (John Benjamins, 2019) and authoring 'Slike jezika: Temeljne kognitivnolingvisticke teme / Key Topics in Cognitive Linguistics' (Naklada Jesenski i Turk, 2019). Her publications consistently demonstrate rigorous methodology and theoretical sophistication, making significant contributions to understanding how language functions in political discourse, identity formation, and emotional representation within South Slavic contexts.