TEAM MEMBERS
Dr. Elena Orduna Nocito
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Lecturer in the Department of English Studies: Linguistics and Literature at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Spain. She has a Ph.D. in English Language and Linguistics. Her research is devoted to educational linguistics, more precisely to teaching English as a second language, the implementation of bilingual programmes within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), University Language Policy issues, and on the incorporation of EMI in tertiary education in Spain. She has participated in research projects related to the field of second language teaching and bilingualism: AECLIL (Assessment and evaluation in CLIL), VESPA (Varieties of English for Specific Academic Purposes) y EDICC (European Diploma for Intercultural Competence). Most of her publications are the result of this research and have been published in significant journals in the field such as Journal of Language Learning in Higher Education, Mouton de Gruyter and Peter Lang. At a professional level, from 2008 to 2017, she belonged to the executive committee of ACLES (Asociación Española de Centros de Lenguas de Enseñanza Superior) and she also held the position of Language Policy Director at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria from 2014-2018.
Dr. Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Lecturer in the Department of English Studies at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), and she holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics (2017) from Jaume I University. Her research interests include second language pragmatics and intercultural competence, with a special focus on the study abroad context and English-medium instruction (EMI). Her publications include articles in international journals (Journal of Pragmatics 2018, System 2018, English Language Teaching 2019) and in Spanish ones (ATLANTIS 2017, Porta Linguarum 2018), chapters in collective volumes (EUROSLA Series 2018; Peter Lang 2018; Routledge 2020), and she is the co-editor of the volume Learning Second Language Pragmatics beyond Traditional Contexts (Peter Lang 2018).
Dr. Davinia Sánchez-García
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Davinia Sánchez García obtained her PhD (with Honours) at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), where she combines her work as assistant professor in English and Linguistics with her role as educational developer. Her research interests include English-medium education (EME), (classroom) discourse analysis and teacher education, about which she has published articles in national and international journals (Portalinguarum 2018, ELIA 2018, CLIL Journal 2019, JICB 2020) and book chapters in international prestigious publishing houses (Springer 2020, Routledge 2020). Davinia has been a research member of the European Erasmus+ project ‘Educational Quality at Universities for Inclusive International Programmes’ (EQUiiP) and is currently also actively involved in the nationally funded research project ‘Understanding internationalization in HE from the student perspective’ (SHIFT), and the UCM research group 'Multilingualism, Internationalisation and the English Language in Higher Education / Sp. 'Multilingüismo, Internacionalización y Lengua Inglesa en la Educación Superior' (MILES; formerly ‘The Role of English in the Internationalization of Spanish Higher Education’ (EngInHE)). She is also responsible for the teaching innovation project ‘Mentor-ING’, and a member of the transnational teacher education program ‘Two2Tango’, both trying to help teachers face the challenges and opportunities of the multilingual and multicultural learning space.
Dr. Irene Soriano-Flórez
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Irene Soriano Flórez is Assistant Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, where she is a member of the research group MILES since 2019. She obtained her PhD in English Linguistics in 2025 (cum laude), after conducting a research stay at the University of Vienna. Her research interest focuses on multilingualism and internationalisation and lies at the intersection of translanguaging, disciplinary literacy and English-medium Education (EME). She was a member of the SHIFT research project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science from 2021-2024 (PID2019-103862RB-100, in which she worked as an FPI candidate) and she is an active member of different national and international research and teaching projects, such as a university research network (IMICLES "Internationalisation and Multilingualism: Strategies for the Integration of Content and Languages in Higher Education". RED2024-154338-T), a European Blended-Intensive Programme (BIP) on Virtual Exchange or teaching innovation projects (Innova), among others. Her recent publications include chapters in edited volumes by Routledge and Multilingual Matters.
Dr. Mateusz Pietraszek
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
M
ateusz Pietraszek is an Assistant Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. He holds a PhD in English Linguistics and an MA in Spanish Linguistics. He has experience teaching English for Specific Purposes and General English on 20+ degrees, English Phonetics and Phonology, Introduction to English Linguistics, and Applied Linguistics at the university level for 17 years. His research interests include English and Spanish phonetics (intelligibility, accent (features), and attitudes to pronunciation), English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), comparative morphosyntax, English-medium instruction (EMI), and higher education. A passionate language learner, he speaks seven languages (English, Spanish, Polish, French, Catalan, German, and Esperanto) and is a member of the International Hyperpolyglot Association (HYPIA).
www.promateo.com
Dr. Javier Cañas Villarreal
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Javier Cañas Villarreal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Studies: Linguistics and Literature at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), where he is a member of the DISCOM-COGFUNC research group. He holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science and Language from the University of Barcelona. His research focuses on applied linguistics, with particular emphasis on the development of pragmatic competence in second and foreign language acquisition. His doctoral research focused on interlanguage pragmatics in Greek as a foreign language, with particular attention to the realization of requests by Spanish/Catalan bilinguals. He is a member of an INNOVA teaching innovation project on the ethical and effective use of AI in English language teaching, and maintains occasional collaborations with the European Erasmus+ project EmpowerAId, focused on teacher training and educational AI, and with the LETEGR2 research group at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has participated in national and international conferences and seminars, including those organized by the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (AESLA), the International Conference on Bilingual Education (CIEB), and the International Pragmatics Association (ITAP), and has published several articles in the fields of applied linguistics, with work appearing in journals such as Languages and Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. His multilingual profile includes Spanish, English, Catalan, Greek, and French, as well as basic knowledge of Farsi and Turkish, and he remains eager to continue learning other languages.
Dr. Ángela M. Alonso
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Ángela M. Alonso is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Studies at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Spain. She obtained her PhD in English Studies in 2025 from the University of León (ULE), where she held a research fellowship from 2022 to 2026. She holds a BA in Modern Languages (ULE, 2019) and an MA in Teacher Training for Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, Vocational Training and Language Teaching (ULE, 2021). She has experience teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Her research primarily focuses on Virtual Exchange, exploring how this pedagogical approach can prepare students for the challenges of studying abroad. She collaborated on the Erasmus+ European Policy Experiment Virtual Innovation and Support Networks for Teachers (VALIANT, 2021–2024). Her main research interests lie in the areas of pre-mobility Virtual Exchange, Study Abroad, task-based language teaching, intercultural learning, and the development of foreign language teaching and learning materials.
Dr. Andrea Martínez Celis
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid
Visiting Professor in the Department of Financial Economics and Accounting and Modern Languages at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos since 2018 where she teaches Modern Language and English Language and its Didactics. She is also a predoctoral researcher in English Linguistics in the Department of English Studies at Universidad Complutense de Madrid since 2017. She holds a BA degree in English Studies and a Master's degree in English Linguistics from the same university. In her Bachelor studies, during her stay at University of Sussex, Brighton, she became interested in the topic of forensic linguistics and, more specifically, on the analysis of suicide letters carrying out a linguistic analysis on Virginia Woolf´s suicide letters. During her Master’s studies, switching to a new field of research, she focused on the role of pragmatics in English teaching and learning. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD on the role of intercultural competence in the internationalisation of higher education. In 2021, she carried out an international research stay as a visiting scholar at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands.
Sonia López Serrano
Universidad Complutense de Madrid /
Universidad de la Laguna, Canary Islands
Sonia López-Serrano is a researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and an English lecturer at the University of La Laguna. Her main research interests are the language learning potential of L2 writing tasks and written corrective feedback, and the effects of learning contexts on L2 vocabulary and pragmatic development. Her latest publications include a chapter in the book Writing and language learning: Advancing research agendas (John Benjamins) and an article in the journal Studies in Second Language Acquisition. She is also the co-editor of the volumen Learning context effects: Study abroad, formal instruction and international immersion clasrooms of the EuroSLA Studies series.
Prof. Ute Smit
Universität Wien
Ute Smit is a Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Vienna. Her main research focus is on English used as a lingua franca and/or classroom language in various educational settings, by combining micro, meso and macro perspectives. Her publications, which include three authored books and numerous contributions in international journals (e.g. in Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, TESOL Quarterly, System), deal with classroom interaction, language policy and participant perspectives in EMEMUS (English Medium Education in Multilingual University Settings) and CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). She was a co-founding member of the AILA Research Network on CLIL and Immersion Education and is presently a board member of the ICLHE (Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education) Association.
RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
María Aranda
2025-2026
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
María Aranda obtained her undergraduate degree in English Studies at University of Málaga and is currently studying for a Master's degree in English Linguistics at UCM. She is a research assistant in this UCM Research Group. Among her main academic interests are internationalization processes in higher education, English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and the pedagogy of multiliteracies.
Giulia Iodice
2025-2026
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Giulia Iodice holds a Bachelor's degree in International Studies from Leiden University and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in English Linguistics at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Her main research interests include intercultural communication, sociolinguistics, and the internationalization of higher education.
