Dr Marco Pino

PhD (University of Verona)

Pronouns: He/him
  • Senior Lecturer in Communication and Social Interaction
  • Treasurer of the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ and College Union (LUCU) Committee

Research groups and centres

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Marco Pino
  • RealTalk

    • Marco is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, and his expertise is in the fields of communication and social interaction.

    Marco's research explores how people engage in delicate activities in face-to-face interaction and how they manage difficult episodes of communication. Marco’s research has addressed several topics in social interaction research including complaining, conflict, and the sharing of personal experiences. His research contributes to understandings of how people communicate, and it also has practical implications for improving communication in health and social care services.

    Marco obtained his PhD in Education at the University of Verona with a dissertation on communication between staff and clients within Therapeutic Communities – rehabilitation programmes for people managing mental health problems and/or drug addiction. He carried out post-doctoral research at the University of Verona and at the University of Nottingham in two main areas: dyslexia and communication in end-of-life care.

    Marco uses conversation analysis to explore how people interact in a variety of settings: support groups, healthcare consultations, and every day informal interactions. Marco studies how people talk about sensitive matters such as violations of social norms and expectations; and delicate topics such as people’s thoughts and feelings about mortality. How do people negotiate what is a delicate matter in social interaction? What do they accomplish by constructing an event as atypical or out of the ordinary (or vice versa as ordinary and normal)? What does this tell us about how people shape their social worlds in everyday interaction? These are some of the questions Marco addresses in his research.

    Some of Marco's current lines of work include practices that promote compassionate conversations in end-of-life care; ways of facilitating bereavement support groups; laughter in mealtime family interactions; and misgendering in conversation.

    Marco's research contributes to fundamental understandings of social interaction, but it also generates impact. In collaboration with Treetops Hospice, Marco manages the RealTalk programme of development, implementation, and dissemination of evidence-based resources for use in communication skills training of healthcare professionals and volunteers supporting patients with life limiting conditions, their family caregivers, and bereaved persons.

    Marco primarily teaches topics and problems in communication and social interaction. Marco’s teaching introduces students to fundamental problems and dilemmas that people navigate in their everyday social interactions, such when they cooperate in joint activities, resolve misunderstandings, manage conflicts, and engage in reciprocal emotional support. Additionally, Marco’s modules explore important applications of communication research, including the critical study of practices of social marginalisation, and applications to the fields of health and social care.

    Marco also teaches research methods with a special focus on conversation analysis—the video-based study of naturally occurring social interactions in mundane and institutional settings.   

    Current postgraduate research students:

    • Miao Tian: “Performing Class Identities Online: Migrant Workers, Social Media, and Social Inequalities in Contemporary China”. Co-supervised with Sabina Mihelj
    • Katie Jordin: “Big Boys, Real Men: How do repair sequences in everyday talk contribute to the communication of heteronormative masculine constraints in early childhood?”. Co-supervised with Emma Richardson and Laura Jenkins
    • Jo Sims: “Ways people manage communicating difficult emotions in hospice consultations”. Co-supervised with Jessica Robles and Ruth Parry
    • Graham Johnson: “Difficult conversations in the emergency department: how do senior emergency clinicians communicate with patients and relatives about serious diagnoses, palliative treatments and death? An analysis of video recordings using Conversation Analysis and development of educational resources”. Co-supervised with Liz Peel.

    Availability for PhD supervision:

    Marco welcomes proposals from prospective PhD students focusing on aspects of language and social interaction and using the methodology of conversation analysis. If you would like to discuss a research proposal, please contact him at: m.pino@lboro.ac.uk