New Intensive Courses in Language Analysis: Developing Data-Driven Skills for International Relations and Business

The Department of International and Diplomatic Studies is newly offering two intensive courses, which will take place from 18 to 20 February 2026, during the first week of the semester. Both courses provide students with practical, data-driven analytical skills that enable them to systematically examine language in international, business, and policy contexts and to translate linguistic evidence into clear, well-supported insights for academic and professional use.

2MS327 – Language Analysis for International Relations is an intensive bachelor-level course that introduces students to quantitative and corpus-based approaches to analysing language in international relations. The course focuses on how linguistic patterns in political speeches, policy documents, and media discourse shape meaning, power relations, and ideological positioning in global contexts. Through hands-on work with real-world data, students learn to apply key techniques such as frequency analysis, collocations, keywords, and data visualisation, developing transferable analytical skills relevant to international research, policy analysis, and communication.

2MS431 – Computational Analysis of Language for Management, Business and International Studies is a master-level intensive course designed to equip students with advanced computational and corpus-based tools for analysing professional, institutional, and intercultural communication. Students work with large-scale multilingual datasets, including corporate communication, diplomatic discourse, and policy texts, to investigate persuasion, framing, soft power, and communicative strategies in business and international settings. The course emphasises practical application using tools such as #LancsBox and data visualisation techniques, preparing students for evidence-based research and professional practice.

Both courses are taught in English by Vaclav Brezina and Dana Gablasova from Lancaster University, internationally recognised experts in corpus linguistics and applied language analysis. Their teaching draws on extensive research experience and the development of widely used linguistic tools and resources, offering students a unique opportunity to engage with state-of-the-art methods at the intersection of language, data, and international studies.