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My research and teaching investigate how mindfulness enhances wellbeing in higher education and healthcare contexts. Grounded in linguistic anthropology and the sciences of language and mind, I explore how mindfulness is practised in relational interaction, and how mindfulness practice shapes and shifts the mind’s experience and understanding of self and others.
Current research projects include
A randomised controlled trial of a mindfulness intervention for postgraduate students in Macau and Hong Kong, demonstrating significant reduction in emotional disturbances (BMC Psychology, 2025);
corpus and discourse analyses of Mindfulness‑Based Cognitive Therapy trials (Kuyken et al., 2008 & 2015) examining how mindfulness practice in interaction unfolds and how it contributes to reduced depression relapse;
the integration of mindfulness into university English language classrooms to reduce foreign language anxiety and to enhance learning and well-being;
the World Meditation Survey, a global collaboration examining how meditation experiences are articulated and shaped across cultural and contemplative contexts.
See also current events at the Mindfulness Research & Teaching Group at UM.
Current Positions
Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, English Language Centre, University of Macau
Honorary Associate Professor of English, School of English, University of Hong Kong
Academic Visitor, Oxford Mindfulness and Psychological Science Research Centre, University of Oxford
Education
PhD & MA Linguistics, University of Michigan
MPhil & BA (Hons) English, University of Hong Kong
Mindfulness teacher qualification
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life (MBCTL) Foundational Teacher Training, Taking it Further, Trauma-sensitive Mindfulness (TSM) Training, Oxford Mindfulness
Deeper Mindfulness (DM) Teacher Training, Mindfulness Network
Interpersonal Mindfulness Program (IMP) teacher training, Association pour le Développement de la Mindfulness
Contact katherinec@umich.edu
2026 Katherine Chen
I see language as a window to the understanding of human social relationships and meanings, and I am especially interested in the nexus of discourse, identity, and ideology in diverse contexts. See my research projects below, click the titles to go to each research page. Some papers are available at Academia.edu and ResearchGate.
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