Roly Sussex

Roland (Roly) Sussex (M.A. Hons Canterbury; PhD London) is a specialist in language, communication and culture, and health communication. He was Professor of Applied Language Studies at the University of Queensland from 1989 until 2010. He is currently Research Professor in the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, and in the School of Languages and Cultures, at the University of Queensland. Since retiring he has become involved in social issues as a public intellectual. He is currently President of the English Speaking Union of Queensland (2018-). His current research is focused on language, culture and society, technology, and, more recently, pain and health.

His talkback radio program A Word in Your Ear has been broadcast every week to Queensland on ABC radio since 1997, and for the last 20 years to South Australia.

When he is not engaged in researching and writing about language, communication, culture and health, he works on his garden and acreage, rides road bikes and mountain bikes, and indulges his passion for classical music.

He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012, and was a made a Chevalier des Palmes Académiques by the French Government in 2017, and a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.