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Amaya Mendikoetxea Pelayo (Bilbao, 1962) is a Spanish philologist, professor and researcher, expert in English linguistics, Rector of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid since 2021. Since 2019, she has been Professor of English Linguistics in the Department of English Philology, which she joined in 1991, when the degree in English Philology was being launched. She has also taught at the University of Deusto (1989-1991) and at the University of Leeds (UK) (1987-1989). She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of York (UK, 1992), where she also did an MA in Theoretical Linguistics, and a BA in English Philology from the University of Deusto (1986). She researches language as a biological property of human beings, focusing on its architecture (syntax) and its acquisition. She is particularly interested in the comparison between languages, as concrete manifestations of this property, in terms of what this comparison reveals about the properties of language as a cognitive system. He is a member of the consolidated research group GRATECOM (Theoretical and Comparative Grammar). In the 1993-94 academic year, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thanks to a Fulbright grant. He has also completed other stays, including UCLA (1997) and Lancaster University (2006-07). She has taught on the degrees in English Studies and Modern Languages, Culture and Communication, as well as on the Master's degree in Applied English Linguistics and on numerous doctoral programmes. She has been Vice-Rector for International Relations (2013-2017), Vice-Dean of Undergraduate Studies (2009-2013) and Head of the Department of English Language and Literature (2003-2006).

For as long as he can remember, there has been in him a constant restlessness for discovery, a driving force that has led him towards the world of science. In 1990, he obtained his degree in Chemical Sciences at the Autonomous University of Madrid. After obtaining a 3rd cycle scholarship from the UAM and later an assistant position, he immersed himself in the realization of his doctoral thesis and in his first experiences in teaching. Research during his doctoral thesis, focusing on anti-tumour compounds, connected him with the pharmaceutical industry, awakening a growing interest in knowledge transfer. In 1994, he completed his PhD at UAM and received a Human Capital and Mobility grant from the European Union for postdoctoral studies at the University of Dortmund (Germany). Subsequently, he undertook another research stay at the University of Virginia (USA). Upon rejoining the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the UAM as a Doctoral Assistant, he began to play roles in both teaching and research. In 2002, he reached the position of Full Professor, and in 2020, he obtained the title of University Professor within the CAM Excellence program. Throughout his career, he has been a visiting researcher at the University of Newcastle (United Kingdom) and at the National University of Singapore since 2016. Currently, he is a member of the IMDEA Nanoscience Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Research in Chemical Sciences and the Institute Center for Condensed Matter Physics. His research has been developed at the intersection between Chemistry and Materials Science, specifically in the field of Nanoscience. His outstanding research work was recognized with the Research Excellence Award by the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry in 2015. With more than 200 scientific articles published, he has consolidated part of his research through transfers, including patents and projects with companies. In addition, he has played a crucial role as partner and scientific advisor in UAM spin-off companies, such as Nanoinnova Technologies S.L., Porous Inks Technologies S.L. and Fourteen Energies S.L. Reflecting on his professional career, he highlights the privilege of being a university professor and underlines the importance of ties between student and teacher, collaboration in research, and the transfer of knowledge to society.‍

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