Flavio Vasconcellos Comim is a Full Professor at IQS School of Management in Barcelona, Spain, holding the Chair of Ethics and Christian Thought (intercenter). His research focuses on the intersections of Sustainability, Economics, and Ethics. Fields of Interest : Human Development, Capability Approach, Social Exclusion, Regional Development, AI Ethics, Poverty Stigma (Aporophobia), Sustainable Development, Social Welfare, Justice, and Happiness. Recent research includes publications on youth HDI in Spain (2025), AI bias against the poor (2024), and critiques of Sen's social choice theory (2024). He leads projects like Big data applied to the study of aporophobia and Population Medicine and Sustainable Development collaborations with China. His academic output spans journals like Regional Studies , AI and Society , and Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society , with keywords spanning Economics, Machine Learning, Human Development, and Social Justice. No formal students or awards are listed in available records.
Xavier Serra is a Full Professor at the Department of Engineering at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona. He is the founder and director of the Music Technology Group (MTG), and leads the UPF-BMAT Chair on AI and Music. He also coordinates the Master in Sound and Music Computing and serves as President of the Phonos Foundation. His research focuses on audio signal processing, sound and music computing, and computational musicology, emphasizing open science and open innovation. Education: BSc in Biology, University of Barcelona (1981) Master in Music, Florida State University (1983) PhD in Computer Music, Stanford University (1989) Research Interests: Audio Signal Processing Data-Driven and Knowledge-Driven Methodologies Music Information Retrieval Cultural Music Analysis (e.g., Carnatic/Turkish/Andalusian Music) Music Education Technology Notable Projects: CompMusic (ERC Advanced Grant, 2010-2017): Multicultural computational music analysis Open datasets: Freesound, Saraga, FSD50K Technologies: Reactable, Vocaloid, Essentia API Recent Trends in Articles: Focus on AI-driven audio processing (neural fingerprints, generative models), cross-cultural music analysis, and explainable music difficulty estimation. Awards: ERC Advanced Grant (2010) for CompMusic Project. Labs/Teams: Director of MTG, Phonos Foundation, and UPF-BMAT Chair. Active in open-source projects and international collaborations.
Chang-Tai Hsieh is the Phyllis and Irwin Winkelried Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is also a PCL Faculty Scholar with the university. His academic appointments include being a Research Associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Senior Fellow at the Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development, and a member of the Steering Group of the International Growth Center in London. His research interests focus on economic development, growth in Asia and Latin America, and applied economics, with particular expertise in macroeconomics. He has conducted extensive research on growth and development patterns across different regions, with special attention to China's economic transformation. His work examines resource allocation, innovation dynamics, trade policy impacts, and structural economic changes. Hsieh's recent publications reveal a strong focus on US-China economic relations, Chinese economic development, and the dynamics of innovation and growth. His research spans multiple subfields including trade policy, resource allocation, economic measurement, and the political economy of development. He has made significant contributions to understanding the economic transformation in East Asia, particularly regarding China's growth model and its implications for global trade. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship Elected Member of Academia Sinica Two-time recipient of the Sun Ye-Fang Prize Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow of the Econometric Society Hsieh has been a visiting scholar at multiple Federal Reserve Banks (San Francisco, New York, and Minneapolis), the World Bank's Development Economics Group, and the Economic Planning Agency in Japan. He is also an active commentator on economic policy, with numerous opinion pieces published in Commonwealth Magazine, Project Syndicate, and other major outlets, particularly focusing on US-Taiwan-China economic relations and trade policy.
Jan Eeckhout is an ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona, specializing in macroeconomic theory, labor markets, and urban economics. His work focuses on market power dynamics, wage inequality, and technological impacts on labor and urban systems. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). Eeckhout has received a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant (€2.45M) for research on 'Macro Market Power and Distribution.' He authored the influential book The Profit Paradox (2021), exploring how dominant firms reshape labor markets and economies, translated into multiple languages. His research frequently appears in top journals like the Quarterly Journal of Economics and Review of Economic Studies. Research Interests: Macro-Labor Theory, Labor Markets, Urban Economics, Market Power, and Economic Inequality. Recent work examines technological origins of labor market stagnation, IT-driven urban polarization, and wealth effects on worker productivity. Advising and Grants: Supervises PhD students (e.g., Milena Djourelova, David Puig) and collaborates with institutions globally (CEMFI, EUI, Sciences Po). His team includes co-authors like Jan De Loecker and Philipp Kircher. Active in policy discussions via think tanks and media outlets like VoxEU and the NYT. Labs/Teams: Leads a diverse research group at UPF, with projects on market power, urban economics, and labor dynamics.
Miguel Ángel Bernal Merino serves as a Part-Time Lecturer in the Department of Modern Philology, Translation and Interpretation at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Concurrently, he acts as convener of the MA in Translation at the University of Roehampton in London, managing its Specialised Translation, Audiovisual Translation, and Intercultural Communication pathways since 2005. His academic profile bridges theoretical research and industry application in localization disciplines. PhD in The Localisation of Video Games, Imperial College London MSc in The Localisation of Multimedia Interactive Entertainment Software, Imperial College London Certificate in Software Localisation, University of Limerick CELTA, University of Cambridge MPhil in Lip-Synched Dubbing, Universidad de Alicante MA in Hispanic Literature, University of Rhode Island BA in English & Spanish Linguistics, Universidad de Alicante Bernal Merino's research pioneers the expansion of Translation Studies into interactive media domains. His work on video game localization examines interactivity, cultural adaptation, glocalisation, and playability, while his audiovisual translation research investigates creativity in lip-synched dubbing, subtitling, and audiodescription. He extends these frameworks into gaming-based language learning through haptic environments and multisensory reinforcement, exploring physiological aspects of multilingual cognition and polysemiotic neural networks. This multidisciplinary approach fundamentally challenges traditional boundaries in translation theory. His publication trajectory reveals evolving industry-academia integration, shifting from foundational game localization frameworks (2008-2015) toward user-centered research and educational applications (2018-2024). Recent work emphasizes measurable business impacts through quality localization, regional market adaptations, and crowd-sourced methodologies, demonstrating consistent influence on professional standards across gaming and translation sectors. Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Bernal Merino supervises doctoral research on mobile game localization, transmedia fan experiences, and historical game content translation while developing industry-academia pipelines through projects like AHRC's Media Across Borders. His funded initiatives—including Maximising ROI through Quality Game Localisation and Video Games for Language Learning—bridge theoretical innovation with commercial implementation, focusing on glocalisation strategies, interactivity metrics, and playability optimization. These collaborations connect European universities, gaming studios, and localization service providers. As chair of the IGDA Localization SIG and member of GIR Discourse, Communication and Society, he directs international forums for game localization discourse. His work with Routes into Languages promotes audiovisual media in language education, while REF-readiness collaborations enhance research excellence across European institutions through his professional network spanning industry conferences like GDC Summit and Game Global.
Alicia Orea Giner is a Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences of Rey Juan Carlos University, specializing in sustainable tourism and social justice. Her research focuses on Generation Z's sustainable consumption practices in food tourism, AI integration in hospitality, and ethical dimensions of tourism. She co-authored the award-winning article The way we live, the way we travel: generation Z and sustainable consumption in food tourism experiences , recognized with the 2024 Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper Award. Her work bridges sustainability, technology, and cultural studies. Key themes include feminist methodologies in tourism research, transformative travel through ecofeminism, and post-pandemic food tourism trends. She explores AI applications in service robots, wellness tourism's mental health connections, and marginalized communities' roles in culinary tourism. Recent studies address LGBTQ+ tourism challenges, stakeholder participation in World Heritage sites, and ghost tours' cultural narratives. Awards highlight her contributions to sustainability and social justice in tourism. Awards: 2024 Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper Award Research Foci: Food Tourism, AI Ethics, Feminist Tourism Studies, Cultural Heritage Management Labs/Teams: No specific lab mentioned; collaborates across interdisciplinary tourism research networks.
Luis Botella Garcia Del Cid is a Full Professor at the Department of Psychology and Speech Therapy, Faculty of Psychology, Educational Sciences and Sports, Ramon Llull University. His work focuses on therapeutic alliance, constructivism, and clinical psychology. University: Ramon Llull University School: Faculty of Psychology, Educational Sciences and Sports Department: Psychology and Speech Therapy Email: lluisbg@blanquerna.url.edu His research spans therapeutic alliance, psychometrics, constructivist approaches, and clinical psychology. He investigates therapist personal style, team solutions in psychotherapy, and adolescent interactions with social media influencers. His recent projects include ACM Psicopersona and Proceso Terapéutico funded by AGAUR. Key publications (2022-2023) address dyadic coping during the pandemic, fuzzy cognitive mapping in clinical supervision, and teamwork in psychotherapy. Articles span interdisciplinary collaborations across 27 countries with a focus on psychological distress and relationship quality. He collaborates with the Psicopersona research group and participates in systems-thinking-based clinical models. His work integrates constructivist theory with practical applications in therapeutic contexts and adolescent digital behavior.
Bernhard Schölkopf is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and holds a Professorship at ETH Zurich. He is one of Europe's leading researchers in Artificial Intelligence and serves as co-founder and president of ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems). His scientific interests focus on machine learning and causal inference, with applications spanning biomedical problems, computational photography, and astronomy. Schölkopf has conducted research at prestigious institutions including AT&T Bell Labs, GMD FIRST in Berlin, and Microsoft Research Cambridge before joining the Max Planck Society in 2001. Schölkopf's recent work examines the tangible risks of AI systems rather than speculative existential threats, highlighting important challenges including algorithmic bias, lack of transparency, privacy violations, worker exploitation, carbon footprint of AI systems, and job displacement across multiple publications in different languages. His scientific achievements have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards: Academy Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Royal Society Milner Award Leibniz Award Koerber European Science Prize BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award Allen Newell Award Fellow of the ACM Fellow of the CIFAR Program "Learning in Machines and Brains" Schölkopf is a member of the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) and co-founded the series of Machine Learning Summer Schools. His work bridges theoretical advances in machine learning with practical applications across diverse domains, while advocating for responsible AI development that addresses real-world challenges rather than speculative existential threats.
Guillermo Toral is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at IE University and a Faculty Affiliate at MIT GOV/LAB. He holds a PhD from MIT (2020), an MPhil from the University of Oxford (2011), and a Licenciatura from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2009). His research focuses on comparative politics, political economy, and governance, with a regional emphasis on Latin America and Southern Europe. He examines relationships among state actors, anti-corruption policies, and their impact on public service delivery and human development. His academic experience includes tenure-track roles at IE University (2022–present) and Vanderbilt University (2020–2022). He previously worked at the World Bank (2011–2014) on education policy and human development programs. His research has been published in top journals like the American Journal of Political Science and Journal of Politics , earning awards such as the AJPS Best Article Award and APSA Health Politics Best Paper Award. Key research areas include bureaucratic accountability, political budget cycles, and the political uses of public employment. His book project explores how lame-duck governments disrupt bureaucracy and service delivery. Teaching evaluations highlight his expertise in comparative politics and political economy at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Awards: Harold D. Lasswell Award, AJPS Best Article Award, APSA Health Politics Best Paper. Grants: Ramón y Cajal fellowship (IE University). Labs/Teams: MIT GOV/LAB Affiliate.
Richard Hornbeck is the V. Duane Rath Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is an economic historian and applied-micro economist whose research focuses on the historical development of the American economy, examining why some places and people have become wealthier while others have remained poorer. Hornbeck is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, affiliated with programs on the Development of the American Economy, Development Economics, and Environmental and Energy Economics. Hornbeck's research spans multiple critical areas of economic history, with particular emphasis on slavery and emancipation economics, environmental history (especially the Dust Bowl migration), gender dynamics in 19th-century manufacturing, railroad development, and agricultural economics related to the Ogallala Aquifer. His work frequently utilizes newly digitized historical data to provide fresh insights into longstanding economic questions, connecting historical events to contemporary economic issues of wealth distribution and regional disparities. His publication record shows strong trends in American economic development research, with recent work focusing on the economic impacts of emancipation, historical manufacturing patterns by gender, and urban economic development. Many of his papers have been published as lead articles in top journals including the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, and Review of Economics and Statistics. Hornbeck has received several prestigious honors including the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2014 and selection for the 2009 Review of Economic Studies Tour. His NBER affiliations demonstrate his standing in multiple subfields of economics research. Prior to joining Chicago Booth in 2015, Hornbeck was the Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History in the Economics Department at Harvard University. He received his PhD in economics from MIT in 2009 and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 2004. His teaching includes courses on applied microeconomics in economic history and business in historical perspective, with course schedules extending through 2026.
Jordi Perelló Muntan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Architecture at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, where he is also affiliated with the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria de Telecomunicació de Barcelona (ETSETB). He is a member of the Broadband Communications Systems and Architectures (CBA) and IDEAI-UPC research groups, focusing on advanced optical and future internet networking technologies. Research Interests: His research spans telecommunications networks, optical fiber and optical networking, resource optimization, network architectures, and the Future Internet. He investigates performance optimization in 5G transport networks, Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM), Recursive Inter-Network Architecture (RINA), elastic optical networks, and cognitive networking. His work integrates SDN, network virtualization, and green networking principles for scalable and efficient infrastructures. Publication Trends: His recent publications focus on probabilistic constellation shaping in multicore fiber networks, cognitive strategies for optical margin reduction, RINA-based QoS assurance, and migration planning toward spectrally-spatially flexible optical networks. These reflect a strong trend toward intelligent, adaptive, and energy-efficient network design for future communication systems. Scientific Awards: Co-recipient of the 2020 Fabio Neri Best Paper Award Runner-up (Elsevier Journal of Optical Switching and Networking) Co-recipient of the ONDM 2021 Best Paper Award Co-recipient of the 2019 IEEE Communications Society Charles Kao Award Co-recipient of the ONDM 2012 Best Student Paper Award Advising and Grants: He has advised multiple PhD students on topics including RINA, optical network planning, and virtual provisioning. He has led or participated in major European (H2020, FP7) and national (PID, TEC) research projects such as SLICENET, PRISTINE, TRAINER, and ALLIANCE, focusing on 5G, RINA, and sustainable network infrastructures. Labs and Teams: He is an active member of the CBA research group at UPC, contributing to experimental and theoretical advancements in optical and programmable networks. His team collaborates internationally on testbed development and standardization efforts in next-generation networking.
Montse Castelló Badia is a Full Professor at the Blanquerna School of Psychology, Education and Sports Sciences (Universitat Ramon Llull), leading the Psychology and Speech Therapy Department. She serves as Principal Investigator (PI) of the SINTE research group (Seminari Interuniversitari sobre Identitat i Noves Trajectòries Educatives) and collaborates in multiple interdisciplinary projects focusing on academic and non-academic career pathways. Her research interests center on academic writing practices, professional trajectories of researchers, and educational policy analysis. Key themes include PhD holders' transition to non-academic careers, workplace wellbeing, and legislative frameworks impacting higher education systems, particularly in Spain and Latin America. Recent work explores burnout and engagement dynamics among PhD professionals in non-academic sectors, leveraging mixed-methods approaches. Her publications analyze disciplinary variations in career outcomes and propose pedagogical interventions for ethical AI use in academic writing. Castelló Badia has secured 24+ research grants since 2003, including national (Ministerio de Ciencia) and institutional projects. She co-leads initiatives investigating employers' perceptions of PhD candidates and publishes extensively in indexed journals like Higher Education and Studies in Higher Education . Her work is anchored in the SINTE research group, fostering collaborations across universities to address evolving educational trajectories and identity formation in academic contexts.
Anna Villarroya Planas is a Professor at the Universitat de Barcelona, serving as Director of the Research Center for Information, Communication and Culture. She holds a law degree and economics degree from the Universitat de Barcelona, and a PhD in Public Sector Economics from the same institution. Affiliated with both the Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media and the Department of Economics, she has been teaching courses related to cultural economics and cultural policies since 1993. Her research focuses on digital culture and content, with special emphasis on open access to science and economic studies on culture, particularly examining gender perspectives in cultural sectors. She serves as President of the European Association of Cultural Researchers and coordinates the Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Gender Studies: Cultures, Societies and Policies. Analysis of her recent publications (2022-2024) reveals a strong focus on gender equality in cultural sectors, particularly examining gender discrimination in the performing arts, LGBTQ perspectives in information studies, and cultural policies with gender perspectives. Her work spans multiple disciplines including cultural economics, gender studies, library science, and policy analysis, demonstrating interdisciplinary approaches to understanding cultural production, consumption, and policy implementation. She has participated in numerous research projects funded by public entities including the World Bank, Council of Europe, ERICarts, Organization of Ibero-American States, Spanish Ministry of Culture, Catalan Department of Culture, and Barcelona Provincial Council, as well as private foundations like "la Caixa" Banking Foundation, Carulla Foundation, and Alternativas Foundation. Since 2006, she has authored the report on cultural policy in Spain included in the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends, and since 2017 has been a member of the Council of the Association of the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends. Her leadership extends to directing research projects focused on gender perspectives in information and media studies, including the GEMPIMS (Gender Perspective Mentoring Program in Information & Media Studies) initiative at the University of Barcelona.
Cristina Baus Marquez is a Research Fellow at the University of Barcelona's Faculty of Psychology, affiliated with the Department of Cognition, Development, and Educational Psychology. She holds a Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship (2020–2025) and leads research in the Brain Dynamics and Structure of Human Cognition (BraCo) group. Her work focuses on cognitive neuroscience, bilingualism, and language processing, with a particular emphasis on electrophysiological and behavioral studies of language production, perception, and social cognition. Education: Bachelor's Degree (Llicenciatura) in Psychology, University of Barcelona (2003) PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and Specific Educational Needs, Universidad de La Laguna (2010) Research Interests include the neural mechanisms underlying bilingual speech production, cross-modal language interactions, and how linguistic experience shapes perception of faces and voices. She employs EEG/ERP techniques to study self-monitoring processes in bilinguals and investigates the role of iconicity in sign language production. Key Projects: Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (2020–2025): Investigates verbal interactions and learning mechanisms Fundación BIAL Grant (2017–2019): Explored electrophysiology of bimodal bilingualism AGAUR Grant (2018–2020): Studied verbal interactions' cognitive mechanisms Labs/Teams: Active member of the BraCo research group, collaborating internationally on multilingualism and cognitive neuroscience projects.
Marina Romeo Delgado is a Full Professor at the Department of Social Psychology and Quantitative Psychology, University of Barcelona. She directs the UB-ADECCO Chair for Labour Integration of People with Disabilities and leads the Consolidated Teaching Innovation Group GIDC-CAV. As Internal Coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Work, Organizational and Personal Psychology (WOP-P) Master's program, she collaborates with universities in Bologna, Coimbra, and Valencia. She also coordinates the Interuniversity Doctorate in Psychology of Communication and Change. Her research focuses on psychosocial risks, organizational communication, and employee well-being with emphasis on disability inclusion in workplaces. She has led projects like 'Implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Psychology and Education Programs' (2022-2024) and 'Realizing Potential of EU Staff Mobility' (2016-2019). Awarded EuroPsy Specialist certification in Work and Organisational Psychology, she has authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles on telework motivation, job crafting effects, and disability employment policies. Her work bridges academic research with practical interventions through international collaborations and institutional initiatives.
