In conversation with … Pavla Schäfer

Abstract

After completing her master’s degree in German Studies and History at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, and earning her doctorate in German Linguistics (Joint Ph.D. Greifswald and Brno), Dr. Pavla Schäfer initially worked at the University of Greifswald (2012–2019), followed by a position in German Linguistics at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (2019–2020). After her parental leave, Dr. Schäfer returned to Greifswald. Since 2022, she has been employed as a research associate and habilitation candidate at the Institute of German Philology, where she also leads the Greifswald Network for Medical Humanities. Her current research focuses on linguistic trust studies and medical communication, which also ties into her habilitation project funded by the DFG, titled "Textbooks and Thought Styles." In this project, she examines patterns of language use in textbooks on internal medicine and homeopathy from a linguistic perspective.

As part of the thematic issue on medicine and media discourses, Pavla Schäfer outlines the development, current state, and future visions of the Greifswald Network for Medical Humanities. The interview was conducted by linguist Dr. Marina Iakushevich, currently a research associate at the Greifswald Department of German Linguistics, co-director of the Linguistics and Medicine Network, and guest editor of the thematic issue.