Conference Committee Bios

CHIEF ORGANISERS AT THE LOCAL INSTITUTION

José Alberto Benítez Andrades

José Alberto Benítez Andrades is a professor in the field of systems and automation engineering at the University of León. He holds a degree in computer engineering (2010), a PhD in production and computing engineering (2017), and a master’s in engineering and data science (2021). With over 1,600 hours of teaching across four undergraduate programs and three master’s degrees, his research focuses on artificial intelligence and social network analysis applied to health. Dr. Andrades has published more than fifty-five JCR-indexed articles and is a member of the steering committee of the IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems. Currently, he serves as the vice-rector for internationalization and global engagement at the University of León and coordinates the bachelor’s degree in data science and artificial intelligence. He has also held various management positions in the School of Engineering and is the vice-dean of the Professional College of Computer Engineers of Castilla y León.
(https://cv.jabenitez.com)

Joaquín Barreiro García

Joaquín Barreiro García holds a PhD in industrial engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He is currently full professor in the area of manufacturing process engineering at the University of León. Dr. Garcia is head of the TAFI research group (Advanced Manufacturing and Inspection Technologies) and head of the Consolidated Research Unit 247 of Castilla y León region. He also directs the central service 3D Printing and Manufacturing Unit at the University of León. He has been director of, and participated in, several EU and National Plan R&D projects; has published more than eighty papers in high-impact international journals; and has four patents, along with his involvement in several other publications and international conferences. García has also collaborated with the National Agency ANEP during twenty years as an expert evaluator of research projects, and has participated in several expert panels for defining the strategic research and professional profiles in the region of Castilla y León. In his management role, he served as secretary of the Spanish Society of Manufacturing Engineering from 2008 to 2012. He has been dean of the School of Engineering at the University of León since 2019.

Salvador Tarodo Soria

Salvador Tarodo is professor in the Department of Public Law at the University of León. He holds degrees in law (1995) and philosophy (2001) from the University of Valladolid, as well as a PhD in law from the University of the Basque Country (2003). He is recipient of the Víctor Grífols i Lucas Foundation Bioethics Research Award for the best work published in bioethics in Spanish (2005). He has specializations in bioethics and biolaw, and has written more than fifty publications, including “Derecho de la Libertad de Conciencia de los usuarios de los servicios sanitarios” (2005) and “Biotecnología y Bioderecho” (2011). He has participated in around twenty research projects as principal investigator, including “Digital medicines and Biolaw: opportunities and limitations of the development of medicines with integrated sensor in connection with a system for the collection and transmission of patient data (LE043P20)”, Junta de Castilla y León/FEDER Funds. He has been dean of the faculty of law at the University of León since 2020.

Marina Morla González

Marina Morla González holds a PhD in law. She is an assistant lecturer in the Public Law Department at the University of León, as well as academic secretary of the Faculty of Law. She has carried out research stays in prestigious foreign centers, such as Radboud University (The Netherlands) Oxford University (UK), University of York (UK), and New York University (USA). She has published several papers in prestigious journals, such as Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Clinical Ethics, Revista de Derecho y Genoma Humano, Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional, Revista General de Derecho Público Comparado, and Aranzadi Unión Europea, among others. She devotes her research career to the analysis of legal and ethical conflicts in the applications of artificial intelligence systems in the clinical context, paying special interest, among other aspects, to the legal study of the incremental innovation of pharmaceutical patents and the impact of artificial intelligence and sophisticated technologies for patient care.
(https://portalcientifico.unileon.es/investigadores/97652/detalle)

Sherman Farhad

Sherman Farhad is a faculty member and researcher in the Department of Economics and Statistics at the University of León. Her research is transdisciplinary, focusing on ecological economics, exploring topics such as social-ecological systems, environmental governance, and sustainability transformations. She has participated in eight research projects in Spain and Canada, with publications in journals such as Nature Scientific Reports, Land Use Policy, and Journal of Environmental Management, as well as book chapters for publishers such as Routledge and Elsevier. She teaches courses related to economics and the environment and is the director of the international relations and global engagement area in the vice-rectorate for internationalization and global engagement at the University of Leon. She earned her bachelor’s degree in economics, her master’s in social research applied to the environment, and a PhD in environment and society.

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Javier Fernández-Costales Muñiz

Dr. Javier Fernández-Costales Muñiz is professor of labour and social security law at the University of León, and teaches with the Faculties of Law, Labour Sciences, Education, and Economic and Business Sciences. He also teaches with the Faculties of Legal and Social Sciences and Business Sciences at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, as well as in various doctorate and official master’s programmes. He is a member of the Department of Private and Business Law at the University of León, vice-dean for quality and institutional relations of the Faculty of Law of the University of León, alternate magistrate of the High Court of Justice of Asturias, and arbitrator of the Consultative Commission of Collective Agreements of Castilla y León. Dr. Muñiz is the author of more than one hundred and eighty research works on the different fields of the social branch of law—individual labour law, health safety and medicine at work, immigration law and community social law, collective law, social security, and procedural labour law—which have been published in the most prestigious publishing houses and journals at national and international levels. He has directed, coordinated, and participated in numerous research projects financed by different public administrations and public and private entities and organizations, and has also carried out different technical work for them, having also received different research grants for the development of his work and various awards in recognition of the same. He has given more than one hundred and seventy lectures, specialization courses, seminars and conferences at various universities and national and international bodies and organizations, and has directed numerous national and international congresses, conferences, and seminars. He is director of the International Labour Law Study and Research Group (GIEIDT); coordinator in Spain of the international working group Societies, Structures, Mondialisation, Innovation, and Management (SMIG); and member of the Spanish Association of Labour and Social Security Law, the Spanish Association of Health and Social Security, the Société Internationale de Droit du Travail et de la Sécurité Sociale, the Community for Labour and Occupational Research and Study, and the international network Associazione per gli Studi Internacionali e Comparati sul Diritto del Lavoro e sulle Relazioni Industriali (ADAPT).
(https://portalcientifico.unileon.es/investigadores/97085/detalle)

Nieves Alonso García

Nieves Alonso García is permanent lecturer with the History of Law and Institutions department at the University of León. She holds a PhD cum laude with an Extraordinary Doctorate Award in the field of social and legal sciences. She has extensive academic training—a bachelor’s degree in public management and administration from the University of León, a bachelor’s degree in political and administrative sciences from the University of Salamanca, a bachelor’s degree in law, and a master’s degree in business legal consulting from the University of León. Since 2016, Dr. García has taught and researched at the Universities of León and Isabel I de Burgos, not only in core subjects for the bachelor’s degree in law, such as the history of law, but also in other current subjects that study the legal implications of the use of new information and communication technologies. Her research activity has resulted in the publication of two monographs. She is also the author of around thirty scientific articles and book chapters on various topics.

Roberto Fernández Fernández

A lecturer in labour law and social security in the Faculties of Law and Labour Relations at the University of León, Roberto Fernández Fernández obtained his PhD in 2003 from the University of León. He was the winner of the First Research Prize in both the 12th Edition of the Center for Financial Studies Prize 2002 and the 20th Edition of the Center for Financial Studies Prize 2010. Dr. Fernández has published more than hundred research articles in books and legal journals, focusing on labour law, social security law, and public administration, such as “Essential services as limits to the right to strike: (notes on the solutions offered by the British and Spanish legal systems)” (University of León, 2006) and “Business succession in cases of transfer of administrative concessions for the management of public services” (Seville: Andalusian Institute of Public Administration, 2008). He is barrister of the Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid.
(https://portalcientifico.unileon.es/investigadores/97105/detalle)

Cristina García Del Amo

Administrative staff, University of León.

Armando Álvarez Alvite

Armando Álvarez Alvite studied law at the University of León before earning the bilingual master’s degree in European Union law at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in 2016. He also studied in the online Master’s Degree in Access to the Legal Profession while in an internship in the legal department of the company Dragados SA in 2017. Currently, Alvite is an assistant lecturer in the Department of International Public Law and International Relations at the University of León, where for the past seven years he has been teaching European Communitarian Law and Public International Law within the law degree program. In addition, in 2024 he defended his doctoral thesis, entitled “The application of the right to self-determination in the last colonies: the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice in the case of the Chagos Archipelago.” His research activity focuses on the external action of the European Union and the protection of human rights in the international sphere.
(Armando Álvarez Alvite | LinkedIn)

Carlos Sierra Fernández

Carlos Sierra Fernández is a full professor of minerals engineering at the University of León. He holds degrees in mining and geological engineering, along with master’s degrees in process engineering and civil engineering, and a PhD in environmental engineering. His research focuses on characterizing and remediating contaminated soils containing trace elements and toxic organic compounds, using advanced analytical techniques and physical separation methods. Dr. Fernández has led two research projects in Ecuador funded by SENESCYT, fostering collaboration with local communities. Currently, he works on soil-washing methodologies and the spatial distribution of contaminants, while leading the International Strategy area at the University of León. He has co-authored two books and more than fifty indexed articles, and has an h-index of 20.
(https://portalcientifico.unileon.es/investigadores/97543/detalle)

Raúl Marcos Alonso García

Raúl Marcos Alonso García holds a PhD in production and computing engineering from the University of León, where he is the director of mobility and language policy and also a professor in electrical engineering. Dr. García’s research focuses on bioelectrochemical systems and sustainable technologies, with scientific publications on microbial electrolysis cells, microbial electrosynthesis, and the integration of electrochemical technologies with anaerobic digestion.

Tamara Álvarez Robles

Tamara Álvarez Robles earned her PhD in constitutional law from the University of León, with her thesis, “The right of access to the Internet in Spanish constitutionalism,” receiving the international mention and the qualification of cum laude. She holds a master’s degree in corporate legal consultancy. She currently teaches constitutional law at the University of León and collaborates with the universities of Burgos and International University of Valencia. Her main line of research is digital rights, with various international and national research projects dealing with cybersecurity and disinformation protection; artificial intelligence; citizen initiative; people in situations of dependency; and vulnerable groups.
(https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/autor?codigo=3725238)

Adriana Suárez Corona

Adriana Suárez Corona is an associate lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and the director of the Institutional Chair of Cybersecurity at the University of León. She holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Oviedo and has been a professor at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Denver. Dr. Corona coordinated the master’s in Cybersecurity Research between 2018 and 2020; the European Master in Law, Data and Artificial Intelligence (EMILDAI) between 2022 and 2024; and the Permanent Training Certificate in Cybersecurity. Additionally, she served as director of the International Projection Area from 2018 to 2024. Corona is a member of the CAFE research group (Cybersecurity: Applications, Foundations, and Education) and the NARVIC teaching innovation group, as well as a researcher in RIASC (Institute of Applied Sciences for Cybersecurity). Since 2022, she has been a board member of the Governing Council of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society (RSME). Corona’s research focuses on provable security in cryptography, using mathematics to provide formal evidence of the security of cryptographic systems. She has participated in numerous national projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and other national institutions, contributing to various scientific publications. She has also participated in prestigious national and international conferences and has organized special sessions in several of them.

Lidia García Martin

Lidia García Martin earned her PhD in law from the University of León, where she is an assistant lecturer of administrative law and coordinator for mobility programmes at the Faculty of Law. Her main lines of research so far focus on the defense and guarantee of citizens’ rights in their relations with public administrations when they use electronic means, as well as the challenges of the recent incorporation of disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, in the public sector (data protection, discriminatory biases, high-risk systems, digital breaches, etc.). To this end, she studies the digital administration regime and e-procurement. Another consolidated line of research focuses on the legal regime for the protection of the Iberian wolf in Spain (studying wolf conservation and management measures and their compatibility with agriculture and livestock farming in rural areas).
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/lidia-garc%C3%ADa-mart%C3%ADn-1b880112a/)

Yudith Cascón García

Yudith Cascón García is currently pursuing her degree in law at the University of León, while gaining practical experience in the field. She spent a year in Rome as part of the Erasmus exchange program, which broadened her international perspective and enhanced her adaptability. Currently, she works as an internationalization intern, supporting the mobility coordinator, Lidia García Martín. She assists with coordinating student exchange programs, managing documentation, and offering guidance to incoming and outgoing students. This role has developed her organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills. She holds a C1 Cambridge Certificate in English, which allows her to work effectively in multilingual environments. She is eager to apply her knowledge and skills in a professional legal or administrative setting where she can continue to grow.

Marta González Aparicio

Marta González Aparicio has been a professor of financial and tax law at the University of León since 2015. She holds several degrees from the University of León, including the Degree in Business Administration and Management (2010), Degree in Law (2014, with extraordinary end of degree award), Master’s Degree in Access to the Legal Profession (2016), and Doctorate in Law (2020), with the thesis “La crisis de la prescripción en el Derecho Tributario español” earning international mention and extraordinary doctorate prize. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Tax Procedures from the University of Murcia (2019). Dr. Aparicio has published more than thirty-five articles in specialized legal journals, more than forty chapters in scientific monographs, and three individually authored monographs. She has participated as a speaker in more than fifty congresses and legal courses and has coordinated or directed academic events and participated in research projects financed by public entities. Her lines of research include tax prescription, taxation of cryptocurrencies, indirect taxation, and taxation in the digital economy. She has also studied taxation in sectors such as agriculture and technology, and the relationship between taxpayers’ rights and the powers of the tax administration.