Ivana Marková is an emerita professor of psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 at the University of Stirling

University of Stirling

The University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...

, known for her work on language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

 and the constructs of communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

.

She was born in Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 and studied philosophy and psychology at Charles University in Prague. In 1967 she moved to the United Kingdom. She initially worked as Research Fellow at Industrial Training Research Unit, University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 (1968–70) before moving to the University of Stirling from which she retired in 2003 as an Emeritus Professor.

Her main theoretical research interests are the ontology

Ontology

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...

 and epistemology of theory in social psychology

Social psychology

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...

, and the interdependence between social thinking, dialogue and semiotics

Semiotics

Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...

. Empirical research concerns social representations

Social representations

A social representation is a stock of values, ideas, beliefs, and practices that are shared among the members of groups and communities. Social Representations Theory is a body of theory within Social Psychology and Sociological social psychology...

 of democracy, individualism and responsibility in post communist Europe and the study of dialogues between people with impaired speech and their partners.

Awards

• Fellow of the British Psychological Society
  British Psychological Society
  The British Psychological Society is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. The BPS is also a Registered Charity and, along with advantages, this also imposes certain constraints on what the society can and cannot do...
  
  
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
  Royal Society of Edinburgh
  The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...
  
  
• Fellow of the British Academy
  British Academy
  The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
  
  .

Books

• Markova, I. (Ed.) (1978). Social context of language. Chichester: Wiley

• Markova, I. (1982). Paradigms, thought and language. London: Wiley

• Markova, I., & Foppa, K. (Eds.) (1990). Dynamics of dialogue. Prentice-Hall.

• Markova, I., & Foppa, K. (Eds.) (1991). Asymmetries in dialogue. Prentice-Hall

• Markova, I., Graumann, C.F., & Foppa, K. (Eds.) (1995). Mutualities in dialogue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Markova, I., & Farr, R. (Eds.) (1995). Representations of health, illness and handicap. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic.

• Marková, I. (2003). Dialogicality and Social Representations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

• Markova, I. (ed.) (2004). Trust and democratic transition in post-communist Europe. Oxford: Oxford University press.

• Markova, Ivana & Moscovici, Serge. (2006). Making of Modern Social Psychology: The Hidden Story of How an International Social Science Was Created. Cambridge and Oxford: Polity Press.

• Markova, I. Linell, P., & Grossen, M. (2007). Dialogue in focus groups: exploring socially shared knowledge. London: Equinox.

• Marková, I. & Gillespie, A. (Eds.) (2007). Trust and distrust: Socio-cultural perspectives. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, Inc.