About Me

I hold a BA in Film Studies and an MA in English Language & Literature from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), and a PhD in Linguistics from Queen Mary University of London. My thesis (that you can find here) was supervised by Prof. Erez Levon and Dr. Olivia Knapton. I also possess an MA degree in pedagogy from the Haute École Pédagogique Vaud (Switzerland) that gives me the permission to teach English in Swiss middle, high and professional schools (secondary 1 + 2 levels).

Some people may find it difficult to pronounce my last name. Here is a phonetic transcription that might help you: ˈɛlvɪs 'kɔimbɹɑ 'gəʊmɛs

The "C" in "Coimbra" is pronounced like the "c" in "cat" and the "oi" like in "going".

Considering the lack of qualitative research on OCD, I also founded the conference/platform OCD in Society which was launched in 2019. The last (3rd) edition was held in London in 2022.

I strive to conduct truly interdisciplinary, cutting-edge, and impactful research. As such, I apply qualitative and quantitative tools from sociolinguistics (e.g., critical discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, ethnography) on two different fronts:

PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL

Focusing on sexuality and gender-related obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) – e.g., Homosexual OCD (HOCD), Sexual Orientation OCD (SO-OCD), Pedophilia OCD (POCD), Transgender OCD (TOCD), Gender Identity (GI-OCD) – I am interested in exploring how affected people orient in their discourse towards normative ideas of selfhood, gender, sexuality and mental health. Related to this topic, I have collaborated with Prof. Heiko Motschenbacher.

SOCIOPOLITICAL LEVEL

I am also interested in understanding the different ways language and ideology get intertwined in discourse for social and political goals. For instance, I have explored with Dr. Stamatina Katsiveli the role of metonymy in anti-genderist discourse when framing feminist and LGBT+ groups as a dangerous Other.