Mario Montagud

Dr. Mario Montagud (male) holds a BSc, MSc, and a PhD (Cum Laude, 2 Awards) in Telecommunication from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). During and after his PhD, supported by an FPI grant, he completed three research stays totaling 18 months at CWI in the Netherlands. Following a postdoc at UPV in 2016, he became a Part-Time Professor at the University of Valencia (UV) in 2018 and joined the i2CAT Foundation in Barcelona as the MediaTech Department Research Leader. His career is backed by prestigious fellowships, including a Juan de la Cierva at UV (2019-2021), a BBVA Foundation Leonardo Grant (2019, <5% success rate), a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (2022-2027). He got the R3 research certificate in 2023. His research focuses on how next-generation media technologies can improve society. His areas of interest include Multimedia Systems, Interactive and Immersive Media, Accessibility, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and User Experience (UX). Mario has co-authored over 150 scientific publications, with more than 30 indexed in JCR journals and 20 in CORE conferences, alongside a research book, over 10 book chapters, 2 teaching books, and over 10 articles on teaching innovation. He has also contributed to international standardization bodies such as IETF, ETSI, W3C, ITU, and ISO. Mario has participated, with leading roles, in many national and international competitive R&I projects, and regularly serves as evaluator for AENOR, AEI/MICIN, and the European Commission. He actively drives technology transfer to the private sector, and serves as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of the spin-off Volum Tech. In this academic career, he has co-supervised over 22 BSc and 8 MSc theses, is currently co-supervising 7 funded PhD theses, and has served on over 17 PhD defense committees. He has been invited at keynote speaker at relevant international events (IEEE WCNC, ACM MMSys, IEEE BMSB, Networld Europe, NEM…) and has served as General Chair and organizer for key conferences in his field. He is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, has guest-edited three special issues, and received the ACM Excellent Service Award in 2021.