November’s blog at SIETAR UK features an interview with our Community Relations Director, Katharina Addington-Lefringhausen, and she kindly shares with us how she entered the field and her plans for SIETAR UK in the future. Intercultural communication is a passion for Katharina driven by a desire to better understand how we can live together in increasingly diverse societies. We asked Katharina about her journey.
- How long have you been working in the field of Intercultural Communication? Where did it all start for you? What attracted you to this field?
I’ve been immersed in the field of Intercultural Communication since 2011, when I began my MSc dissertation at Brunel University London. At the time, political leaders like Angela Merkel and David Cameron were declaring that “multiculturalism has failed,” and the tragic Norway attacks—carried out by a far-right extremist—deeply shook Europe. I found myself asking: How do majority group members respond to immigration and cultural change—and how can these responses be more inclusive and less harmful to all involved?
That question became the core of my academic journey—first as a PhD student at Brunel, then as a lecturer at the University of Warwick, and now at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh (https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/en/persons/katharina-lefringhausen).
But my fascination with culture and identity started much earlier. In school, I wrote essays exploring German national identity, its complex history, and the emotional weight it still carries today. A pivotal moment came in 2003/04, when I spent a year as an exchange student in New Jersey. My host family and history teacher sparked my deep interest in how history shapes national narratives—especially around race, conflict, and belonging.
Later, during my undergraduate studies, I encountered intercultural theories like Hofstede’s value dimensions and Hall’s high vs. low-context communication. That’s when I knew: this is what I want to do—work with culture.
Intercultural Communication isn’t just a career for me—it’s a long-standing passion rooted in curiosity, empathy, and a drive to better understand how we can live together in increasingly diverse societies.
- How long have you been a member of SIETAR and how has it served you as a professional organisation?
I’ve been a member of SIETAR UK since autumn 2015, though the seed was planted earlier. Back in 2011, I took part in a Train the Trainer course led by Adrian Pilbeam, a former SUK president. He introduced me to the organisation, but it wasn’t until a few years later—during my PhD research on majority group acculturation—that I reconnected with SIETAR. I was keen to explore how my academic work could have practical value for intercultural professionals, and whether their real-world insights could refine my research.
That decision opened up an incredibly rewarding path. Joyce Jenkins, SUK’s president at the time, invited me to join the board. This allowed me to organise workshops that connected academics and practitioners, and to share my own research with a broader audience.
A particularly memorable moment came in 2016, when I attended a SIETAR UK event where one of the speakers turned out to be someone I was due to meet later that week—in a job interview. That informal introduction helped boost my confidence, and the interview led to my first permanent academic role. It was clear that being part of an active professional network like SIETAR UK made a difference—not just for my research, but for my career.
Since then, I’ve continued to support SIETAR by introducing students and fellow academics to the network. That outreach has been recognised as meaningful engagement and impact within the academic world—bridging the gap between theory and practice.
The Refugee and People Seeking Asylum Project is one of the most impactful projects I’ve worked on through SIETAR UK. It started in 2018, in response to the growing Syrian refugee crisis. Alongside a passionate group of trainers and volunteers, we created a training programme to support organisations working with displaced communities. What began as a one-day event at the University of Warwick evolved into a fully online, multi-day training delivered across the UK. It taught me how to lead interdisciplinary teams, run effective online training, and apply academic knowledge for real-world benefit. The project has been professionally recognised and, more importantly, personally fulfilling.
Only this summer I was invited by SIETAR Switzerland as one of their conference’s keynote speakers to share my decade-long work on the topic of majority members’ acculturation (https://sietar.ch/conference-2025/) – which resulted in a spark of collaboration requests for the coming years.
SIETAR has provided me with a community, a platform, and a purpose—linking my academic work to the real needs of people navigating our intercultural world.
- What SUK projects are you currently working on/planning for the future?
Right now, I’m excited to be working on three key initiatives that connect my research interests with practical intercultural work through SIETAR UK:
Together with co-leader Anne-Claude Lambelet, I’m helping to reinvigorate the Migration SIG within SIETAR Europa. We’ve already begun by hosting online events and recently organised a one-day in-person workshop at the 2024 SIETAR Europa Congress in Lille.
In addition, Anne-Claude and Paula Nestea (SIETAR Switzerland members) conducted powerful qualitative research exploring the needs and challenges volunteers face when supporting refugees in Switzerland. We hope to expand this work to better understand and respond to the realities of migration support across Europe.
- Establishing a SIETAR Sub-Network in Scotland
Now based in Scotland, I’m working to build a local SIETAR network that gives intercultural trainers, English language teachers, and practitioners a stronger voice—particularly in countering rising anti-immigration narratives in the UK.
Scotland has a long-standing tradition of welcoming refugees and asylum seekers, and public attitudes here tend to be more supportive than in other parts of the UK. For example, Scotland has resettled a higher proportion of refugees per capita under schemes like the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, and surveys show consistently more positive views towards migrants. My goal is to create a space where this openness can be amplified and turned into coordinated action and support.
- Sustaining the RAAS Project
Lastly, I’m working with Janina Neumann to transform the RAAS Project into a long-term, sustainable programme within SIETAR UK. We aim to build a model that can thrive independently of our direct involvement by securing the necessary resources and creating realistic structures so volunteers remain engaged over time.
If you’re passionate about any of these areas or would like to get involved, I’d love to hear from you!
- What topics would you like to research in the future?
Over the past decade, we’ve made significant strides in understanding majority members’ acculturation — how people from dominant cultural groups adapt to increasing diversity around them. But there’s still so much more to explore.
I’m interested in digging deeper into three key questions:
- When and how does majority group acculturation benefit both majority and minority communities?
- What specific outcomes are caused—not just correlated—by this kind of cultural adaptation?
- How can we design environments that encourage acculturation strategies with the most positive impact for everyone involved?
To answer these, we need more experimental, longitudinal, and mixed-method research. The goal? To provide clearer guidance for policymakers, educators, community leaders, and the public on how to build more cohesive, inclusive societies—where cultural change is not feared but better understood and more intentionally navigated.
This research isn’t just theoretical; it has real-world implications for how we live, work, and grow together in an increasingly diverse world that faces global challenges such as climate change and the AI revolution that require global answers.