María del Pilar García Mayo, Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), has been appointed as a member of the Linguistic Studies section of the Academia Europaea (https://www.ae-info.org/). Professor García Mayo also holds honorary positions as Professor at the Institute of Education, University College London, and as Advisor to the Shanghai Center for Research in English Language Education (SCRELE).
Founded in 1988, the Academia Europaea is one of Europe’s most prestigious scholarly academies, bringing together eminent scientists and scholars from across the Council of Europe member states and beyond. Its members represent a wide range of academic disciplines. The Academy organizes high-level scientific meetings and workshops, publishes the international journal European Review, and contributes to European science policy by providing independent advice to the European Commission through SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies), including representation in the G20.
Professor García Mayo holds a degree in English Philology from the University of Santiago de Compostela and an MA in TESOL and Linguistics, as well as a PhD in Linguistics, from the University of Iowa. She led doctoral programs at UPV/EHU from 1998 to 2013 and has directed the Master’s program in Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings since its inception in 2009. Since 2007, she has also led the Language and Speech (LASLAB) Research Group (www.laslab.org), recognized as a Consolidated Research Group of Excellence and funded by the Basque Government.
Her research focuses on second and third language acquisition, particularly the development of English morphosyntax from a generative perspective, as well as learner interaction and its role in language development. She has published widely in international journals and edited volumes for major publishers in the field of second language acquisition. She has been a member of the Governing Council of the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) since 2021 and previously served as Program Manager for research in the area of Mind, Language and Thought (2016–2019).
Professor García Mayo is currently a member of the External Advisory Committee of the Institute for Linguistic and Literary Research (iLTIUS) at the University of Santiago de Compostela and serves as Editor of Language Teaching Research (Q1, Sage). She has also served on the executive boards of both the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (AESLA) and the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA).
