Gemma Boleda

Gemma Boleda is an ICREA Research Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, where she co-directs the Computational Linguistics and Linguistic Theory (COLT) research group. Her research focuses on understanding how humans convey meaning through language, investigating the formal properties that support communication, and exploring how languages are shaped by cognitive and communicative factors.

Her primary interests include lexical semantics, cross-linguistic variation, and the integration of linguistic theory with computational methods. She employs interdisciplinary approaches combining linguistics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science, utilizing large-scale data analysis to study universal patterns and variations across languages.

Boleda's publications demonstrate a consistent focus on computational semantics, lexical variation, and language evolution. Her recent work explores the intersection of symbolic and neural approaches to language processing, lexical creativity across development and evolution, and computational models of semantic phenomena like colexification and polysemy.

She teaches Computational Semantics in the Master's in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics program and has secured significant research funding including ERC Starting Grants. Her work has contributed valuable linguistic resources such as the ManyNames dataset and Database of Catalan Adjectives.