Dr. Josie O Donoghue

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Josie O'Donoghue is the Director of Studies at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. She completed her undergraduate studies in English at Christ's College in 2004. After several years of working in communications within the publishing charity sector in London, she returned to Christ's College to pursue her doctoral studies, which she completed in 2017. From 2017 to 2021, she held the position of Junior Research Fellow at Clare College. Her research interests bridge the fields of linguistics and literary criticism, with a particular focus on cognitive linguistics and pragmatics, exploring metaphor and forms of figurative language. Her doctoral thesis examined how relevance theory—an influential framework in pragmatics—provides insights into the interpretation of metaphor in Shakespeare's works, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and the critical writings of Seamus Heaney. In 2021, she published her book, 'Relevance and Metaphor' (Palgrave Macmillan), which discusses metaphor as a communicative phenomenon in the poetry of Dickinson, Bishop, and Heaney. Currently, she is undertaking a project looking into metaphor in contemporary Irish poetry, particularly the work of bilingual poets writing in Irish and English.

Research Interests

Experience

Director of Studies

2021-01-01 — Present

Homerton College, University of Cambridge • Cambridge, England

Director of Studies overseeing student academic progress and research.

Junior Research Fellow

2017-01-01 — 2021-01-01

Clare College, University of Cambridge • Cambridge, England

Engaged in research and teaching activities while contributing to the academic community.

Requirements for University of Cambridge

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.7
IELTS
Listening
Required:7
Reading
Required:7
Writing
Required:7
Speaking
Required:7
Overall
Required:7.5
TOEFL
Listening
Required:25
Reading
Required:25
Writing
Required:25
Speaking
Required:25
Total
Required:110
Prerequisites
UK Bachelor's Degree with good Upper Second Class Honours or international equivalent Background in international relations, politics, law, economics, security or history is a definite asset
Application Checklist
  • Two academic references
  • Official transcripts
  • CV/Resume
  • Personal statement (approx 500 words)
  • Research proposal (1-2 pages/500 words)
  • Application fee (£50)
Specialization Notes

Standard postgraduate requirements for Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and related humanities departments.