He is a leading figure in singularity theory, whose contributions to the subject are fundamental.

[1] He has published several books and a variety of papers in singularity theory, finite type invariants, and Legendrian knots.

Many of his papers in Lagrangian and Legendrian geometry are now considered to be classical in the subject.

[1] Goryunov completed his Ph.D. thesis, titled "Surface projection singularities", at Moscow's Lomonosov State University in 1981, under the direction of Vladimir Arnold.

[2] He was an editorial advisor of the journal Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.