Dr Renia Lopez

Dr. Renia Lopez-Ozieblo serves as Associate Professor and Assistant Dean at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Department of English and Communication, where she has built a distinguished career since 2007, briefly interrupted by a year at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. Her academic credentials include a Ph.D. from the University of Málaga, a Master in Applied Linguistics for Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language from Jaen University, an MBA from INSEAD, and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Leeds. As Programme Leader for both the European Studies Minor and Spanish Minor, she has significantly developed the university's European language programs while teaching courses in European languages, cultures, trade, expansionism, and second language acquisition. Her research portfolio spans cognitive pragmatics, gesture studies, and second language acquisition, with particular focus on the relationship between thought, speech, and gesture in language learning. As a co-founding member of the Hong Kong International Society for Gesture Studies and active participant in the AILA Research Network on Gesture, Multimodality, and Second Language Acquisition, she continues to advance understanding of how gestures facilitate language learning and cognitive processing. Her work in coordinating Spanish and European studies programmes includes teaching European history and contemporary societal issues, including their representation in film, demonstrating her commitment to comprehensive cultural and linguistic education.