Dr Irène Hill

Undergraduate

• Culture, Language and Society
• Cultural Competence for the World of Work
• Applied Languages Research Project.

Postgraduate

• EU institutions and Policies
• Business Research Methods.

MA in International Business, Culture and Languages.

• Work-Placement and Project
• Dissertation.

Irène Hill is particularly interested in Politics and Society, the Business Environment in France and in a European context. 

Research interests

• European Union – Institutions and Policies
• Contemporary French and British politics / business studies
• Employment in France
• Collaborative Online International Learning.

Immediate research projects

Her current interest is to look at the cohesion of the European Union in the current global environment. She continues to previously examine the 35-hour working week in France, project originally financed by the Leverhulme Trust.

She is also interested in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - working on a Virtual Exchange Britain and Algeria project and disseminate the case study (VEBA) as an example of innovation and good practice.

Knowledge Transfer and Consultancy

• Editor of the Let's Read Japanese series
• Cross-cultural training for companies.
• Organiser and trainer of short courses.

Research grants and awards

• 2022: was awarded £13,500 from the Higher Education Innovation Fund for the Let's Read Japanese Project.
• 2012-17: was awarded £92,360 from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF5) for the Let's Read Japanese Project
• 2011: was awarded £7,500 Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF4) for a Mandarin Chinese Market Research
• 2008-2016: received £15,500 from HEFCE Routes into Languages to organise events
• 2008: received £10,000 from the EU-Leonardo da Vinci programme to deliver translations for the European Arts Management project
• 2001: was awarded a Research Fellowship of £17,500 from The Leverhulme Trust for the 35-hour working week Project.

Editor of the Let’s Read Japanese - providing graded stories for all learners of Japanese, allowing them to practise the language at different levels, and also learn about Japanese culture and society. The six graded levels are in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)  and the US framework of Reference (ACTFL) for learners of Japanese.

Conference papers 

• The European Union – United or pluralistic?, invited guest speaker at Communication University of China, Beijing, China, 25 September 2015.
• L'Etat français grève-t-il l'environnement entrepreneurial?, Conference organised by the Société québécoise de science politique, Montreal, Québec, 8-9 May 2008.
• The Presidential and Legislative Elections: the Party Political Broadcasts,Towards the Sixth Republic?, Conference on The Elections of 2002, Maison Française, Oxford, 9 June 2002.
• L’application des 35 heures en France : les lois, les défis et les problèmes, Association of the Study of Modern and Contemporary France, Maison Française, Oxford, 25 October 2002. 
• Flexibility at work: The 35-hour week in France, International Conference on Diversity, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A., 14-16 February 2003.

Conferences organised 

• Co-organiser of the 4th EU conference of Gender Equality in Higher Education held at Oxford Brookes University, 31/8-3/9/2005.
• Organiser of the Journée d’étude: La réduction du temps de travail en France: du principe à l'application for the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France, Maison Française, Oxford, 25 October 2002.
• Co-organiser of the 3rd EU conference of Gender Equality in Higher Education held at Geneva, Easter 2003.

• Cross-cultural training for companies relocating between the UK and France
• Organiser and trainer of short courses in Brookes Modern Languages Unit.

Dr Irène Hill worked in accountancy and taught in secondary schools in Oxfordshire before joining Oxford Brookes University. She studied French and Politics and focused on the Circulation of Elites in her Doctorate, completed in 2001 at the University of Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle with Mention Très Honorable à l’unanimité. She is a commentator on French legislation, political campaigns and elites whose work is enriched by gender analysis. An important part of her teaching and research activity is more recently focused on the European Union Institutions and Policies.