Leonarda Inmaculada
Garcia Jimenez

Leonarda García-Jiménez is Full Professor of Communication Theories at the University of Murcia. She received an Extraordinary Doctorate Award and completed her postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado Boulder (USA) from 2008 to 2010, supported by a research fellowship from Fundación Séneca (Regional Agency for Science and Technology), where she developed the project “The Construction of Communicological Thought” on the foundational ideas that have shaped this field of study. At the University of Colorado Boulder, as well as at Colorado State University, she served continuously for 15 years (2008–2023) as an Affiliate Professor, Visiting Scholar, and Lecturer, teaching accredited courses and implementing three publicly funded research projects. She has also been a visiting lecturer and researcher at other universities in Spain, Colombia, Mexico, and Switzerland. For two decades, she has worked in the fields of communication theory, identity, and culture, areas in which she has produced more than eighty publications (books, book chapters, and journal articles). She has published a total of five books with publishers ranked Q1 and Q2 in SPI: 2 single-authored books (Communication Theories in Spain, TECNOS; In Defense of Communication, Tirant lo Blanch), 1 co-authored book (Silenced Voices, Heard Voices, Tirant lo Blanch), and 2 edited volumes. The most recent edited book, Herta Herzog and the Borrowed Experience, is the first one in Spanish on this important figure and founding mother of communication studies (publishing company Comunicación Social). She is currently Principal Investigator of two competitive R&D&I projects: (1) the Ministry of Science and Innovation project “FEMICOMI: Analysis of Female Roles in Communication Research in Ibero-America” (reference PID2021-123143NB-I00), and (2) the Fundación Séneca project “FEMIDOCOM: Research on Female Roles in Theoretical Communication Teaching: Approaches and Proposals (2014–2024)” (reference 22631/PI/24). She received the prestigious Leonardo Grant from the BBVA Foundation for the proposal “Feminizing Communication Sciences: Memory and Contributions of Women Researchers.” Leonarda has also been Principal Investigator of the European research project CRICORM, and has also participated in three other Spanish Government R&D&I projects and has participated in three other Spanish Government R&D&I projects. Regarding societal impact, she has directed and scripted six mini-documentaries (available on the FEMICOM YouTube channel) on the role of women in communication sciences and curated the exhibition “Women Researchers in Communication Sciences: From Invisibility to Recognition.” In addition, as part of her commitment to raising awareness about the need to promote gender equality in science, she founded the FEMICOM group and the FEMICOM.es portal, dedicated to analyzing and disseminating knowledge about women’s roles in science to broader society. She co-directs the Communication and Gender collection at Comunicación Social publishing house (Q2 in SPI), holds three six-year research evaluation periods (“sexenios”), and serves as an evaluator for the AEI and AVAP agencies.