Biography

My post at the University of Surrey is Research Officer in the Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre where I have been involved in EURopean micronutrients RECommendations Aligned (EURECCA) and other projects related to nutrition and food labelling. I have many interests and am familiar with qualitative and quantitative approaches such as conversation analysis, discourse analysis, (quantitative) content analysis, grounded theory, systematic reviews, programme evaluation, and experimental methods. 

I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Rhode Island, and my early background was in programme evaluation and public health-related community psychology. I worked on the state-wide implementation and evaluation of the national substance abuse prevention programmes the State Incentive Grant and Strategic Prevention Framework with Paul Florin and the Community Research and Services Team at the University of Rhode Island.

I am currently writing up my PhD at Roehampton University, and my supervisors are John Rae and Lyndsey Moon. My project Good Relations involves healthcare (medical and psychological services) communication between service users and staff; my thesis Inaction and Silent Action focuses on methodological issues in conversation analysis involving gesture and silence in a variety of settings.

Research Interests

I am interested in a range of research topics, of which the most prominent could be said to be:

• Conversation Analysis
• Healthcare Communication
• Public Health Initiatives
• Organ and Tissue Donation Patterns
• Identities and Norms

Publications

Publications:

PDF versions of some of these are available from my website http://www.israelberger.com

Please contact me regarding under review and unpublished papers.

Journal Articles

Berger, I. & Rae, J. (under review). On the role of non-vocal practices in sequence organisation.

Berger, I. & Rae, J. (in press). Some uses of gestural responsive actions.

Berger, I. (in press). Review: Prosody in interaction (Dagmar Barth-Weingarten, Elisabeth Reber, & Margret Selting). Pragmatics.

Berger, I. (in press). YouTube as a source of data. PsyPAG Quarterly.

Berger, I. (in press). Review: Applied conversation analysis (Charles Antaki). Journal of Pragmatics.

Berger, I. (2011). Support and evidence for considering local contingencies in studying and transcribing silence in conversation. Pragmatics, 21(3), 291-306.

Beren, I. (2009). Issues in trans eldercare. Research on Socially and Economically Underrepresented Populations, 1(1).

Other Peer Reviewed Publications

Berger, I. (in press). Divorce as a sacred loss. In Robert E. Emery et al. (Eds.), Cultural Sociology of Divorce: An Encyclopedia. London: Sage.

Berger, I. (in press). When (if ever) is a person’s trans status relevant?. Proceedings of the 8th European Congress of Community Psychology. York, UK.

Invited Publications & Reports

Berger, I. (in press). A visit to Human Rights Watch Geneva. René Cassin.

Berger, I. (2012, January). The development of criteria for establishing death in Jewish law. Moral Relativism Magazine, 3, 57-64.

Stevenson, J., Stein, N., Malotte-Berger, Y., & Florin, P. (2008). Rhode Island State Incentive Grant [Final Report, SAMHSA]. Providence, RI: University of Rhode Island.

Malotte-Berger, Y. (2008). Gender Minority Elder Care. Senior Honors Projects, Paper 99, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI.

Conference Presentations

Berger, I., Viney, R., & Rae, J. (2012, March 21-23 forthcoming). Toward a cohesive conceptualisation of incipient talk. Discourse-Communication-Conversation. Loughborough, UK.

Berger, I. (2011, September 15). When (if ever) is a person’s trans Status relevant?. 8th European Congress of Community Psychology. York, UK.

Berger, I. & Rae, J. (2011, July 12). When (if ever) is a person’s trans status relevant?: Interactional implications for training clinicians. 3rd International Conference on Conversation Analysis and Clinical Encounters. York, UK.

Berger, I. & Rae, J. (2011, July 6). Clients’ initiating actions in psychotherapy: Topic initiation. 12th International Pragmatics Conference. Manchester, UK.

Viney, R., Berger, I., Rae, J., Ansara, Y. G., & Moon, L. (2011, July 5). The use and non-use of emotional displays in directing psychotherapeutic sessions. 12th International Pragmatics Conference. Manchester, UK.

Berger, I. & Rae, J. (2010, December 20). On the interactional treatment of laughter in psychotherapy. Conversation Analysis at Work and at Home. Loughborough, UK.

Berger, I. & Rae, J. (2010). On gestural responsive actions. 4th Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies. Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.

Berger, I. & Viney, R. (2010). Talking during films: Differing treatments of absent and gestural responses by first speaker. 4th Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies.  Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.

Viney, R. & Berger, I. (2010, July 8). That’s what I’m talking about: How television plays into sequence and topic organisation. 3rd International Conference on Conversation Analysis. Mannheim, Germany.

Berger, I. & Rae, J. (2010, July 7). On building responsive actions through non-vocal practices. 3rd International Conference on Conversation Analysis. Mannheim, Germany.

Berger, I. (2010, May). Informed Consent and Qualitative Methods in Youth Counselling and Clinical Research. The Age of Sex: An International, Interdisciplinary Conference on Child and Adolescent Sexualities. Monash University, Prato, Italy.

Stevenson, J., Stein, N., Beren, I., & Florin, P. (2008, October). Local outcomes from the Rhode Island State Incentive Grant. American Evaluation Association Annual Conference, Denver, CO.

Malotte-Berger, Y. (2008). Gender Minority Elder Care. Honors Project Colloquium, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI.

Invited Presentations

Berger, I. (2010, February 10). Applying Conversation Analysis in Patient-Provider Interaction Research. Centre for Research in Cognition, Emotion and Interaction (CRICEI) Internal Lecture. Roehampton University, London.

Beren, I. (2009). Good Relations: Practices that Foster Open Communication between healthcare providers and TGI patients. Roehampton University School of Human and Life Sciences Research Day, London.

Beren, I. (2009). Issues in TGI Eldercare [Poster]. Roehampton University School of Human and Life Sciences Research Day, London.

Workshops

Ansara, Y. G., Fryer, D., Ágústsdóttir, E., & Berger, I. (2011, September 15). Not in our name: How psychologists can effectively resist heteronormativity and cisgenderism in our professions and communities [Symposium]. 8th European Congress of Community Psychology. York, UK.

Berger, I. (2010, May 11). [Untitled Data Session]. Family Mealtimes [Scottish Ethnomethodology Discourse Interaction and Talk (SEDIT) Mealtime Interactions Workshop]. Edinburgh.

Beren, I. (2010, January 20). Family Stories During Family Meals [Data Session]. Scottish Ethnomethodology Discourse Interaction and Talk (SEDIT) meeting. Edinburgh.

Beren, I. (2009). Humour and Conflict Management in a Southern American Mixed Ethnicity Couple's Home Interactions [Data Session]. Conference on Everyday Interactions Across Cultures. Portsmouth, UK.