About Us Héctor Álvarez Mella

Héctor Álvarez Mella's research interests focus on the cultural and social-scientific analysis of multilingualism, education, internationalization, and interculturality. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, he examines the social and demographic dynamics of Spanish as a migratory language in Europe, addressing the factors that influence the intergenerational transmission of the heritage language in Spanish-speaking families. From the perspective of sociology and cultural studies, Álvarez Mella also explores the processes of economic and cultural exchange within the Spanish-speaking world in relation to the transnational dynamics of Spanish in contrast to other languages and against the backdrop of globalization.

Research in Progress

• El español en Europa. Héctor Álvarez Mella is a coordinator and researcher for the international project Spanish in Europe directed by Francisco Moreno-Fernández (HCIAS), Óscar Loureda (HCIAS), and Johannes Kabatek (University of Zurich). The project analyzes the demographics of the Spanish-speaking community in Europe, focusing on the social, cultural, and educational spaces that Spanish speakers inhabit and create across Europe.
• Public discourse on the pandemic in Ibero-America. Héctor Álvarez Mella is part of the research group of this cooperative project at HCIAS that aims to analyze the socio-communicative dynamics of discourse on the COVID-19 and the processes of the social construction of knowledge and perception of the pandemic.
• Language and global circulation of culture.  As a research associate, Héctor Álvarez Mella collaborates with the Nebrija Observatory of the Spanish Language (Nebrija University, Madrid) and coordinates the research focus dedicated to the analysis of the impact of digital transformation on the relationships between cultural and language proximity and the circulation of culture.