Dr. Alan Cienki

Biography

Alan Cienki is a Full Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, specializing in Language Use and Cognition. With extensive expertise in cognitive linguistics and semantics, he explores the conceptualization of gesture studies and multimodal communication. His research interests also include grammar in spoken language, metaphor studies, and comparative/contrastive linguistics. Cienki has contributed to the academic community as a Personnel Manager for the English Academic Language Programme and as the President of the International Society for Gesture Studies for the term 2025-27. He founded the Multimodal Communication Cognition Lab and the Centre for Socio-Cognitive Discourse Studies at Moscow State Linguistic University. His teaching responsibilities include coordinating the BA track in English Language Communication Studies and founding the MA track in Multimodal Communication within the Communication Information Studies program. Cienki has received multiple grants from prestigious organizations such as the Netherlands Science Foundation and has collaborated with various academic institutions worldwide. He has been an influential figure in shaping the field of cognitive linguistics and continues to engage students and researchers in cutting-edge discourse analysis and communication studies.

Research Interests