She obtained her M.A. in Germanic Philology from KU Leuven, M.A. in Literary Theory from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and Ph.D. in Linguistics from the UA (University of Antwerp) with a dissertation on the Pragmatics of the Hong Kong handover coverage in Chinese/Taiwanese press narratives. Her research interests include political communication strategies (including electoral campaigning) and the pragmatics of language and ideology in media discourse within and about the Chinese region. Her foremost interest is the study of representation practices about the Self and the Other in the media, identity politics, and official discourse in the Chinese/Taiwanese context.