Laura Imhoff

Laura Imhoff is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Anglophone Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. She studied Sociology and German Studies at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf and received her M.A. degree with a thesis on “Urban semantics: a linguistic study on the constitution of meaning in public space exemplified by selected street art in Düsseldorf”. In her research, Laura is committed to investigating climate change discourses and the semiotics of (un)sustainable place-making. In her doctoral project, tentatively titled “Environmental activism in semiotic landscapes: The case of stickers”, she looks at stickers as a distinctive genre deployed in the constitution of the environmental activism discourse.

Laura Imhoff

Geisteswissenschaften/Anglistik/Amerikanistik

Address
Universitätsstr. 12
45141 Essen
Room
R12 R05 B35
E-Mail
laura.imhoff@uni-due.de
Website
https://www.uni-due.de/anglistik/urban_semiotics/imhoff_laura

Functions

  • Wissenschaftliche/r Mitarbeiter/in, Anglistik: Linguistik III

The following publications are listed in the online university bibliography of the University of Duisburg-Essen. Further information may also be found on the person's personal web pages.

    Journal articles

  • Imhoff, Laura
    Review of Seargeant, Giaxoglou & Monaghan (2023) : Political Activism in the Linguistic Landscape. Or, How to Use Public Space as a Medium for Protest
    In: Linguistic Landscape, Vol. 11, 2025, Nr. 4, pp. 436 – 439
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Imhoff, Laura
    The stickerscape of environmental activism in Lützerath
    In: Journal of Visual Political Communication (JVPC), Vol. 11, 2025, Nr. 2, pp. 151 – 174
    DOI

    • Book articles / Proceedings papers

  • Imhoff, Laura
    Signs of Sustainability? : The Semiotic Dimension of Urban Plants
    In: Framing Sustainability in Language and Communication / Kosatica, Maida; Smith, Sean P. (Eds.). New York: Routledge, 2025, pp. 124 – 142
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Interdisciplinary approaches to the multimodal constitution of meaning
  • Urban Linguistics, Semantics and Semiotics
  • Semiotic landscapes of (un-)sustainable place-making
  • Discourses of sustainability, climate change and activism
  • Environmental activist stickers
  • Semiotic dimensions of urban flora and fauna
  • Science communication

Imhoff, Laura (2025): "Living in a concrete jungle. The social semiotics of urban greenery". Invited talk at the University of Bern, co-sponsored by the CSLS (Center for the Study of Language and Society) and the Department of English, in Bern/Switzerland, 01.12.2025.

Imhoff, Laura (2025): "Signs of sustainability? The semiotic dimension of urban plants". Talk at the 16th Linguistic Landscape Workshop at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen/Germany, 04.09.2025.

Imhoff, Laura (2024): "Unauthorized practices of communicating environmental change. The case of activist stickers". Talk at the CCH conference (Communicating climate hope: Countering eco-anxiety and climate doomism in research and practice) at the Tilburg University in Tilburg/Netherlands, 15.08.2024.

Imhoff, Laura (2024): "Sustainability in concrete jungles. A multimodal social semiotic approach to visual mimicries in environmental discourse". Talk at the CADAAD conference (Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines) at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Posnan/Poland, 12.07.2024.

Imhoff, Laura (2023): "Sticking to the Earth. Environmental activism in the semiotic landscape of Lützerath". Talk at the 14th Linguistic Landscape Workshop at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Madrid/Spain, 07.09.2023.

Imhoff, Laura (2023): "Unsustainable place-making. Semioticising Nature in urban places". Talk at the Sustainability Symposium at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen/Germany, 29.06.2023.

Imhoff, Laura (2022): "Urbane Semantik: Eine sprachwissenschaftliche Studie zur Bedeutungskonstitution im öffentlichen Raum am Beispiel von Street-Art". Invited Talk at the Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf/Germany, 05.05.2022.