Alfonso Sánchez-Moya holds a joint PhD in English Linguistics (Universidad Complutense de Madrid | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2018), for which he received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award. His doctoral thesis explores the discourse of female survivors of Intimate Partner Violence from a socio-cognitive perspective and identifies the most salient linguistic patterns used by these women to represent themselves and their perpetrators depending on the stage they were in the abusive relationship. For his postdoctoral research at Harvard, and also taking a discourse-driven approach, Alfonso aims to investigate the discursive features employed by far-right populist parties when disseminating their ideas in online contexts. Broadly speaking, his research interests span the fields of online discourse, multimodal communication; and the intersections of these with identity, ideology and power.

Alfonso’s academic background is mostly linked to discourse, language and linguistics. He graduated in English Studies (Complutense Madrid, 2011) and completed several postgraduate courses afterwards. In fact, he holds a MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Complutense Madrid, 2012), a MA in Discourse Studies (Lancaster, 2013) and a MA in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (Pablo de Olavide, 2015). Both public and private institutions have recognised Alfonso’s academic performance since the outset of his career. During his undergraduate studies, he obtained the Excellence Grant awarded by the Regional Government of Madrid in three different occasions (2006, 2007, and 2009). Additionally, he also benefited from the Santander Grant for International Mobility (2009) and La Caixa Foundation Grant for Postgraduate Studies in Europe (2012). His doctoral research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education by means of a FPU predoctoral contract (2014-2018).

Professionally speaking, Alfonso’s expertise is related to the lecturing and teaching of English language and linguistics. Before moving to Boston, he lectured at the Complutense University of Madrid, Camilo José Cela University and Nebrija University, where he was also the Coordinator for International Relations at the School of Languages and Education. From 2008, he has been involved in teaching and coordinating English language courses to National Security Forces in Spain and secondary school teachers in bilingual programmes in Madrid. He is also a Cambridge ESOL speaking examiner from 2012 (A1-C1).

Alfonso currently contributes to several research projects, among which ‘Stance and Subjectivity in Discourse’ is noteworthy (IP: Dr. Marín-Arrese, REF: PGC2018-095798-B-I00, funded by the National Research Agency, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities). More information concerning Alfonso’s publications, conference contributions and some other details of his professional career can be found on his online site or relevant research sites such as Google Scholar and ResearchGate.