Ian Hutchby

Ian Hutchby (b. 1960) is Honorary Professor of Sociology at the University of York. He was previously Professor of Sociology at Brunel University, London, and Professor of Sociology, Director of Research and Head of Department at the University of Leicester.

He specialises in Conversation Analysis, and has a particular interest in how that field can be combined with insights from sociological and communications theory. He is the author or editor of ten books, along with more than 60 journal papers, all of which are studies of how humans communicate in a whole range of social contexts, such as the media, counselling and psychotherapy, using communications technologies, or just plain ordinary conversation. His work on political communication, in particular, has been featured on BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed, and his latest book, 'The Political Interview: Broadcast Talk in the Interactional Combat Zone', looks at how televised political interviewing has evolved into a form of discourse that often seems closer to argument than interview, and explores what that says about the relationship between modern journalism, politics, and the public interest.

Ian has also written a novel, 'Love and Consequence', a psychological thriller in which two tragic love stories intertwine, and the consequences of choices and actions damage, alter, and in the end somehow redeem lives.