cv

Curriculum vitae in structured form, plus a downloadable PDF.

General Information

Full Name Alejandro Benito-Santos
Position Assistant Professor (Ayudante Doctor), Department of Computer Languages and Systems, UNED
Previous Position Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Researcher (JDC2022-048408-I)
Research Areas NLP, HCI, Information Visualization, and Digital Humanities
Location Madrid, Spain

Education

  • 2020
    PhD in Computer Engineering (International Doctorate)
    University of Salamanca
    • Thesis: Supporting Methodology Transfer in Visualization Research with Literature-Based Discovery and Visual Text Analytics.
    • Grade: Cum Laude.
  • 2016
    MSc in Intelligent Systems
    University of Salamanca
    • MSc thesis: Data Visualization in Digital Humanities (highest distinction).
  • 2008
    BEng Computer Engineering
    University of Salamanca

Academic Appointments

  • 2025-present
    Assistant Professor (Ayudante Doctor)
    UNED, Department of Computer Languages and Systems
    • Teaching and research in NLP, visualization, and digital humanities.
  • 2024-2025
    Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Researcher
    UNED, Department of Computer Languages and Systems
    • Research line: Visual Analytics for NLP Explainability and Fairness.
  • 2022-2023
    Margarita Salas Postdoctoral Fellow
    University of Salamanca (GRIAL) and LINHD-UNED
  • 2021
    Postdoctoral Researcher
    University of Salamanca, VisUSAL
  • 2016-2020
    Researcher and Associate Lecturer
    University of Salamanca

University Teaching

  • 2023-2026
    Data Visualization (distance learning)
    UNED, MA in Digital Humanities
    • 5 ECTS. Online teaching focused on visualization tools for complex data.
  • 2024-2026
    Text Representation in Vector and Probabilistic Spaces (distance learning)
    UNED, MSc in Language Technologies
    • 6 ECTS. Online teaching focused on embedding models.
  • 2025-2026
    Programming Languages and Processors (distance learning)
    UNED, BSc in Information Technology Engineering
    • 6 ECTS. Online teaching focused on the formal specification of programming languages.
  • 2022-2023
    Data Visualization (distance learning)
    UNED, MSc in Data Science and Engineering
    • 4 ECTS.
  • 2022-2023
    Cloud Computing and Network Services Management (distance learning)
    UNED, MSc in Computer Engineering
    • 4 ECTS.
  • 2017-2018
    Informatica I
    University of Salamanca, BSc in Statistics
    • 3 ECTS practical teaching in introductory programming and data structures.
  • 2017-2018
    Human-Computer Interaction
    University of Salamanca, BSc in Computer Engineering
    • 13.5 ECTS practical teaching; coordinator of "Interfaces Imaginadas".
  • 2020-2022
    Python Programming and Computational Tools for Bioinformatics
    University of Salamanca, Diploma in Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics
    • Courses in Python programming and computational methods.

Advising and Teaching Innovation

  • Co-supervisor of MSc thesis on semantic similarity in Spanish song lyrics (UNED, 2024).
  • Director of UNED Summer Course 2024 on conversational AI (20 hours).
  • Principal Investigator, teaching innovation project on online Python learning architecture (University of Salamanca, 2017-2018).
  • Member, Innovation Group "Intelligent Systems for Learning" (UNED, since 2024).

Research Projects (Funded)

  • 2022-2026
    ODESIA - Espacio de Observacion del Desarrollo del Español en la IA
    UNED / Red.es
    • National AI Strategy project. Participation in the leaderboard/evaluation line from 2024.
  • 2022-2023
    CLS-INFRA - Computational Literary Studies Infrastructure
    ERC H2020-INFRAIA-2020-1 (GA 101004984)
  • 2018-2021
    PROVIDEDH - Progressive Visual Decision-Making in Digital Humanities
    CHIST-ERA (PCIN-2017-064)
  • 2015-2019
    exploreAT! - Exploring Austria's Culture through the Language Glass
    Austrian Academy of Sciences / University of Salamanca
  • 2014-2024
    Additional competitive and transfer projects
    University of Salamanca and collaborators
    • Includes projects in sports analytics, medical image machine learning, and technology transfer.

Service, Committees, and Recognition

  • Co-chair, ODESIA-Challenge 2024 (international benchmark for Spanish LLM evaluation).
  • Reviewer for ACL, EMNLP, Computational Linguistics, IEEE VIS, IEEE PacificVis, ACM CHI, IEEE Access, and JOCCH.
  • Invited participant, [Dagstuhl Seminar 2023 on Visualization and the Humanities](https://www.dagstuhl.de/seminars/seminar-calendar/seminar-details/23381).
  • {"ANECA accreditations (2023)"=>"Profesor Contratado Doctor (PCD), Profesor Ayudante Doctor (PAD), and Profesor de Universidad Privada."}

International Visits and Professional Experience

  • 2016-2023
    Research visits
    Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna), PSNC (Poznan), LINHD-UNED (Madrid)
    • STSM (ENeL/COST), predoctoral stay, and postdoctoral stay.
  • 2011-2016
    Mobile software engineering and consulting
    Concise Media (London), Floxx (London), Victor Chandler (Gibraltar), Aurora Software (Madrid)
    • Industry experience in mobile application development and technology consulting.