Gesture Centers around the world
Gesture research spreads around the world and research centers and gesture groups are located in different continents. With particular research foci, the centers and groups advance the study of gestures in different fields and by following different methodological and theoretical approaches. The centers and groups push forward the study of gestures in their respective fields and promote gesture research outside of academia through lecture series, workshops and other public events.
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Aachen Center for Sign Language and Gesture (SignGes) (Germany)
The Aachen Center for Sign Language and Gesture offers sign language courses for students of different BA and MA programs at the RWTH Aachen. It offers courses for teacher trainees in the field of schools and inclusion as well as sign language courses and courses for speech therapists, kindergarten teacher, deaf
children in schools and specialists at the Uniklinik RWTH Aachen raising the awareness for deaf interests and needs.
Contact person: Irene Mittelberg, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Amsterdam Gesture Center (Netherlands)
The Amsterdam Gesture Center is based at the Vrije Universiteit/VU. While the focus of the center is on manual gesture with speech, other bodily movements are also taken into consideration, such as bodily position, eye gaze, etc. The approaches of the researchers o"en integrate the psychological with the social, draw on include cognitive linguistics (e.g., conceptual metaphor theory, conceptual integration or blending theory, fictive interaction), cognitive and functional theories of grammar, memory studies, and critical discourse analysis.
Contact person: Alan Cienki, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Berlin Gesture Center (Germany)
The Berlin Gesture Center is a cross-disciplinary academic network bringing together neuropsychological, semiotic and linguistic
research on gestures. The Center is a hub for academic exchange, training and consulting and is currently spread over three locations: German Sport University in Köln, Chemnitz University of Technology and European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).
Contact: Hedda Lausberg, profile – Cornelia Müller, profile – Ellen Fricke, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language (USA)
The Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language is located at the University of Chicago and explores the interplay among gesture, sign, and language and in so doing, addresses some of the most
basic questions about human language and development. The Center provides a home for the collaborations between members of the Departments of Psychology, Linguistics, and Comparative Human Development, as well as providing fertile ground for new collaborations.
Contact: Susan Goldin-Meadow, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Center for Gesture Studies and Speech Sciences
The Center for Gesture Studies and Speech Sciences is located at the TU Chemnitz and brings together research and teaching from gesture studies and speech sciences. The center o!ers courses in di!erent BA and MA programs, training for researchers at the TU Chemnitz in di!erent scientific fields as well as teachers, external researchers and interested parties from industry. Gesture research at the TU Chemnitz covers a range of phenomena in describing gesture-speech relations to the description of gestures in indigenous speech communities. A new branch of research focuses on Human-Machine-Interaction.
Contact: Jana Bressem, profile – Ellen Fricke, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Goldin-Meadow Laboratory
The Goldin-Meadow Laboratory is a research lab at the University of Chicago in the Department of Psychology headed by Susan Goldin-Meadow. The lab is composed of
graduate students and researchers pursuing independent topics related to cognition, development, education, linguistics, and various other fields, but interrelated by the lab’s main focus – the study of non-verbal communication, specifically gestures.
Contact: Susan Goldin-Meadow, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Lab at the University of Victoria (Canada)
The research team at the University of Victoria specializes in the study of face-to-face dialogue in both the experimental lab and applied settings. The lab’s research focuses on identifying the unique features of face-to-face dialogue, especially (a) reciprocal influence and collaboration and (b) visible actions that are integrated with speech (e.g., hand and facial gestures).
Contact person: Janet Beavin Bavelas, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the lab.
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Multimodal Language and Cognition Lab
The Multimodal Language and Cognition Lab is located at the Radbound University
and investigates the relationship between meaningful bodily actions, language and cognition in face-to-face communication. Research particularly explores two specific domains of human communicative behavior in which body and language are closely related, that is gestures used by speakers with co-occurring speech and sign languages used by Deaf communities.
Contact: Asli Ozyurek, profile – Mark Dingemase, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Multimodal Communication and Cognition Laboratory (Polimod) (Russia)
The Multimodal Communication and Cognition Laboratory is located at Moscow State Linguistic University and focuses on face-to-face communication as not just verbal but also visual to varying degrees. Speakers integrate the use of hand gestures, head movements, eye gaze, etc. with their speech in complex ways, o"en without even being aware of it. The lab addresses communication naturally produced in various professional settings, e.g., debates between politicians, sales pitches by entrepreneurs, trials in courtrooms, etc. Research on data from these contexts is of interest not only for the role that persuasive communication plays in them but also for the potential relevance that the research findings can have beyond academia in society more broadly, such as in communication advising.
Contact: Alan Cienki, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Nijmegen Gesture Center (Netherlands)
The Nijmegen Gesture Centre (NGC), co-ordinated by prof. Asli Ozyurek and dr. Judith Holler, brings together the interests of researchers concerned with the study of gestures at the MPI and across the campus of Radboud University Nijmegen. The purpose of the Nijmegen Gesture Centre is to
conduct and promote basic research on gestures, to facilitate interactions and intellectual exchange among gesture researchers through lecture series, workshops, etc., and ultimately to help put gesture on the research agendas in other disciplines.
Contact: Asli Ozyurek, profile – Judith Holler, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
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Viadrina Gesture Center (Germany)
The Viadrina Gesture Center is located at the European-University, Frankfurt (Oder) and is part of an international network on gesture studies. Through di!erent events it promotes scientific exchange on gestures and gesture use. A particular interest of the center is to bring together junior scientists with international colleagues. A key aspect is the cooperation with the universities in Poznan, Torun, Moscow, Paris and Amsterdam.
Contact: Silva Ladewig, profile
For more information, announcements and publications see the website of the center.
