Alexander Ziem

Alexander Ziem is a Professor of German Linguistics and Chair holder at the Institute of German Studies, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, since 2016. His academic career spans institutions such as the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in Berkeley, Universität Basel, and Technische Universität Berlin.

• Research Focus: Cognitive semantics, construction grammar, FrameNet-Konstruktikon projects, discourse analysis, and socio-cognitive dimensions of language.
• Projects: Initiator of the long-term 'FrameNet and Constructicon of German' project; co-editor of Diskursforschung and DiskursNetz handbooks.

His recent publications emphasize constructional meanings, semantic frames, and multilingual frameworks. He leads the German Constructicon project and collaborates on digital humanities tools like SimilarCxns and FrameMap3D.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Preis für Geisteswissenschaften, Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (2011).
  • Research Fellow, International Computer Science Institute (ICSI), Berkeley (2013–2014).

Ziem’s team at HHU includes 25 members, with 10 research assistants, and he contributes to curriculum development, including the upcoming Digital Cultures degree program. His methodological approach integrates corpus linguistics, frame semantics, and machine learning.