Team

Director

Dr. Agusti Solanas

Agusti Solanas is the head of the Smart Technologies Research Group and Professor in the Dept of Computer Engineering and Maths at URV. He obtained his M.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering from URV in 2004 with honours (Outstanding Graduation Award). He received a Diploma of Advanced studies (M.Sc.) in Telematics in UPC in 2006 - GPA 9.57/10. He received a Ph.D. in Telematics Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia in 2007 with honours (A cum laude). In 2012 and 2013, he was visiting researcher in the Department of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Rome Tre (Italy) and in the Department of Mathematics of the University of Padua (Italy), respectively. His fields of activity are smart health, cognitive health, data privacy, ubiquitous computing and AI.

Researchers

Dr. Antoni Martínez-Ballesté

Antoni Martínez-Ballesté (Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, 1976). Associate professor (contratado doctor) in the Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics in URV, since 2003. Engineer in Computer Science and Technology (URV, 2002). He obtained a PhD in Telematics Engineering (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 2004). Member of Crises research group (2001-2014). Visiting junior researcher in the LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse (summer 2004). Visiting professor in Shanghai Maritime University (September 2018). Member of the IEEE. He is a researcher in the Smart Technologies research group in Universitat Rovira i Virgili. His research interests are electronic/mobile health and smart scenarios (interaction with the smart city and cognitive scenarios). He is also interested in security and privacy in the Internet of Things. He was the principal investigator in the SIMPATIC project funded by Fundació La Caixa under the Recercaixa programme. He has served as program committee member in several IEEE conferences as well as session chair. He has also served as reviewer in a number of scientific journals. Author of 91 scientific contributions, including ISI JCR journals, conference contributions and book chapters. Editor of several books on his research areas. Has taken part in 38 research and technology transfer projects, at national and international levels, some of them as principal investigator.

Dra. Maria Ferré Bergadà

Maria Ferré is a lecturer in Computer Engineering and Mathematics Department at the URV. Degree (1990) and PhD in Computer Science (2004) from the UPC. Her research interests had evolved from computer graphics applications and medical data visualization to projects where the purpose is the application of computer science at health. She has participated in telerehabilitation projects for cognitive abilities, in telecare programs for parents of premature children and currently she works on the development of a mobile application that enhances the positive mental health for non-professional caregivers of chronic patients. She is a researcher in the Smart Technologies research group in Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

Josep Maria Banús Alzina

Josep M. Banús is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics at the URV. Degree in Computer Science (1989) and PhD in Computer Science (2008) from the UPC. He currently teaches in the field of Computer Networks and Operating Systems. His research has evolved from real-time systems multiprocessor scheduling and Mobile Adhoc Networks planning to Internet of Things. He is an instructor in the Cisco Networking Academy at ETSE-URV.

M. Àngels Moncusí

M.Àngels Moncusí is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics at the URV. Degree in Computer Science (1990) and PhD in Computer Science (2006) from the UPC. He currently teaches in the field of Operating Systems. His research has evolved from real-time systems planning and energy saving to the Internet of Things. He has conducted courses and lectures in high school to introduce arduinos and raspberry pi to high school teachers and students.

PhD students and project grandholders

Edgar Batista

MSc in Computer Engineering and PhD candidate. Currently working as a data scientist at Xarxa Sanitària Santa Tecla and as a research assistant at APWG.EU.

Juvenal Machín

MSc Computer Engineer, MSc in ICT security (research), and PhD candidate. Currently working as SOC Head for Canary Islands Government.

Armando Maya

B.Sc. in Telecomunication Engineering, esp. Telematics M.Sc. in Information and Communication Technology Security Carrying out PhD Computer Science and Mathematic in the field of Statistical Disclosure Control. Actually, work as Data Scientist & Senior Engineer at Telefonica i+d

Pablo López-Aguilar

Senior telecommunications engineer, master in Cybersecurity and PhD student. Currently working as head of IT and Cybersecurity at APWG.eu.

MSc Computer Engineer, MSc in ICT security (research), and PhD candidate. Currently working as SOC Head for Canary Islands Government.

Technicians and support personnel

Roger Bosch Mateo

Computer science engineer. Currently studying a master degree in Data Science.

Leandro Favio Gomez Racca

Leandro Favio Gomez Racca (Argentina, 1995). Advance technician in Telecommunications and Computer Systems. I am currently studying computer engineering, interested in robotics and new technologies.

Bryan Porras Blanch

Bryan Porras Blanch(Tarragona, 1998). Currently studying computer engineering, interested in cybersecurity.

Collaborator

Dr. Constantinos Patsakis

Constantinos Patsakis holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Athens, Greece and an M.Sc. in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London. He obtained his Ph.D. in Cryptography and Malware from the Department of Informatics of the University of Piraeus. His main areas of research include cryptography, security, privacy, and cybercrime. He has authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed international conferences and journals, and he has been teaching computer science courses in European universities for more than a decade. Dr Patsakis has been working in the industry as a freelance developer and security consultant. He has participated in several national (Greek, Spanish, Catalan and Irish) and European R&D projects. Additionally, he has worked as a researcher at the UNESCO Chair in Data Privacy at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV), Spain, at Trinity College, Dublin Ireland, and Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the University of Piraeus and adjunct researcher of Athena Research and Innovation Centre.

Dr. Fran Casino

Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus (Greece)

Fran Casino Cembellín (Tarragona, 1986) is a postdoctoral researcher in Athena Research Center and in the Department of Informatics at Piraeus University (Piraeus, Greece). He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Computer Science in 2010 and his M.Sc. degree in Computer Security and Intelligent Systems in 2013, both from Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Rovira i Virgili University in 2017 with honours (A cum laude) as well as the best dissertation award. He was visiting researcher in ISCTE-IUL (Lisbon-2016). He has participated in several European-, Spanish- and Catalan-funded research projects and he has authored more than 40 publications in peer-reviewed international conferences and journals. His research focuses on pattern recognition, and data management applied to different fields such as privacy and security protection, recommender systems, smart health, supply chain, and blockchain.

Peter Cassidy

Peter Cassidy is co-founder and secretary general of the APWG, the largest global coalition combating Internet crime; principle architect and CEO of the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Messaging Convention, which manages the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. cybersecurity awareness campaign adopted by enterprises and national governments worldwide; founder of the Symposium on Electronic Crime Research, the only peer-reviewed research conference dedicated to cybercrime (with proceedings published by the IEEE); and founder of the Symposium on Global Cybercrime Awareness, the world’s only research conference dedicated to exclusively to behavioral and cognitive factors in development of cybercrime awareness programming. Mr. Cassidy is also one of the principal designers of the APWG eCrime eXchange, a data clearinghouse moving upwards of one billion data elements of cybercrime-related machine event data per month to APWG member institutions worldwide. Mr. Cassidy is an intervenor/witness/consulting expert to the United Nations, the European Commission, the Council of Europe (Convention on Cybercrime), the Organization of American States, the Commonwealth of Nations and the UK Parliamentary Association.