Juan Bataller Grau is Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Valencia. His professional career has been recognised with various awards: Premio Alfonso el Magnánimo -Diputación de Valencia (1997)-, Premio L’Estimat -Colegio Profesional de Mediadores de Seguros de Valencia  (2018)- y Premio Galicia Seguro a la investigación aseguradora -INADE (2021)-.

He has taught on numerous master's degree courses both in Spain and abroad and has also contributed to the training of professionals through numerous conferences and the Legal Practice Courses of the Alzira and Alcoi Bar Associations, as well as the Official Master's Degree in Law at the University of Valencia. He graduated in Law in 1992 from the University of Valencia, where he was awarded the Extraordinary Degree Award. He subsequently obtained his doctorate in 1996 from the same university, and his thesis was recognised with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award. He has extensive experience in legal consulting, having provided services over the last 25 years to major economic corporations, prominent business associations and various public administrations. His research work covers various areas of commercial law, which has resulted in numerous scientific publications, both nationally and internationally, with his main lines of research being insurance law and company law.

He is currently editor of the Revista de Derecho del Sistema Financiero (Q1 in Dialnet metrics), director of the Ibero-American network of excellence that drafts the Ibero-American Principles of Insurance Contracts (sponsored by AIDA Mundial and CILA); first vice-president of SEAIDA, president of the SEIDA Working Group on Private Insurance Regulation and Supervision, founding member of the European network of excellence ‘Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law’, founding member of the international network of excellence ‘Principles of Reinsurance International Contract Law’, and member of the scientific committee of the Revista Española de Seguros (Spanish Insurance Journal). He has been a member of the European Commission's expert group for the study of insurance contracts in Europe, the Insurance & Reinsurance Stakeholder Group of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) - Insurance and pensions supervisor in the European Union - and the Civil Law Observatory of the Valencian Community.

Publicaciones

[Biography, english version]

[Biography, english version]

[Biography, english version]

[Biography, english version]

Paula Granell Ramírez is a predoctoral researcher (FPU) in the area of ​​Financial and Tax Law at the University of Valencia and a member of the International, Constitutional and Comparative Tax Studies (ETICCs) research group. She is also a PhD student in the Law, Political Science and Criminology program at the University of Valencia. Her doctoral thesis, on transfer pricing, is directed by Professor Alfredo García Prats. As part of her pre-doctoral research, she has completed a research stay at the London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom) thanks to the 16th Cañada Blanch - University of Valencia Award.

She graduated in Law and Business Administration from the University of Valencia (2023). During her university education, she enjoyed a collaboration scholarship, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, in the Department of Financial Law and Legal History.

Later, she completed the Master's Degree in Taxation / Tax Consulting (2024) at the Center for Financial Studies (CEF) and the Distance University of Madrid (UDIMA), where she received the Excellence Scholarship. During this period, she worked as a Senior Research Support Technician on the Prometeo XXITAX Project “The necessary updating of tax systems in the face of the challenges of the 21st century” awarded by the Generalitat Valenciana.

Patricia Llopis Nadal is Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) of Procedural Law at University of Valencia. She completed her Law Degree (2012), her LLM in European Law (2014) and her PhD in Law (2017) with honors at University of Valencia and was awarded the Academic Excellence Scholarship by the Valencian Government (Law graduate students, Year 2012).

Her research has been focused on supranational courts, copyrights legal protection, the protection of rights in the digital realm and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. In 2014, she was awarded with Manuel Broseta’s Prize for her research on legal protection of Fundamental Rights in Europe; in 2018, her research on copyrights protection against infringements on the Internet was awarded with Antonio Delgado’s Prize. As a result of her work as researcher, she has published two books as well as book chapters and papers in specialized reviews; besides, she has actively participated in national and international conferences. She has obtained grants funded through competitive tenders in order to complete her research at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law (four times) and at Paris-Sorbonne University. Furthermore, she has taken part in six research projects, five national-funded and one regional-funded, on class actions and efficiency, legal safeguards in criminal proceedings and rights legal protection in the digital environment.

She teaches Civil Procedural Law and Criminal Procedural Law at the Law School of the University of Valencia. She is also professor of the LLM in Criminology and Security, the LLM in Gender-based violence and the LLM in International and European studies. In 2015, she was part of the Programme in European Private Law for Postgraduates (PEPP), in 2016 she completed the International Legal English Diploma postgraduate course and since 2018 she has been teaching her subjects in English at the High-Performance groups of the University of Valencia. She is an active member of innovative teaching projects awarded by different Spanish universities; besides, since 2014 she is part of the UV-Moot Court group, coaching the teams in international competitions and sharing her experience in seminars. She was coordinator of the first and the second edition of the Summer School for Young Researchers organized by the Law School of the University of Valencia and since mars 2020 she is member and coordinator of the Inter-University Network for the Research and Teaching of Procedural Law in English.

Since May 2024, she has been part of the Law School’s Management Team, where she is Vice-Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Lifelong Learning.

[Biography, english version]

Dr. Carlos Vidal-Meliá is a Full Professor of Financial Economics and Actuarial Science at the University of Valencia (Spain) and holds a research affiliation with the Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico (ICAE) at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Academic Background

Dr. Vidal-Meliá holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Valencia, a degree in Actuarial Science from the Complutense University of Madrid, and a degree in Business from the University of Valencia.

Research Contributions

His research has been published in leading refereed journals, including:

Applied Economics, Astin Bulletin, Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanj, European Journal of Population, Fiscal Studies, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, Insurance: Mathematics and Economics (IME), International Journal for Equity in Health, International Social Security Review, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Journal of Population Ageing, Journal of Pensions Economics and Finance, Journal of Risk and Insurance, Mathematics, Public Money and Management, Quality & Quantity, Scandinavian Actuarial Journal, SERIEs (Journal of the Spanish Economic Association), SORT (Statistics and Operations Research Transactions) and Sustainability, amongst others.

Research Interests

Dr. Vidal-Meliá's research addresses key actuarial and policy issues within public pension systems and long-term care financing. His work spans the following areas:

1. Public pension reform: Focuses on improving sustainability, transparency, and solvency in pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems, particularly through mechanisms like notional defined contribution (NDC) schemes, actuarial balance sheets, and automatic balancing mechanisms.
2. Notional accounts: Extensive work on the design and implementation of notional accounts, assessing how these can be applied to public pension systems to align contributions with benefits and ensure financial stability.
3. Automatic balance mechanisms: Research on tools to automatically adjust public pension systems in response to demographic changes and economic fluctuations, with a focus on mitigating the effects of longevity and low fertility.
4. Gender redistribution in pension systems: Studies on the implications of using unisex conversion factors in life annuities, particularly how these impact gender equity in pension benefits.
5. Joint life care annuities (LCAs): Analyzes the integration of long-term care (LTC) into annuity products for couples, providing financial solutions to address healthcare needs in retirement.
6. Pension system financial health: Development of actuarial balance sheets to evaluate the solvency and financial status of PAYG pension systems, as seen in Sweden and Spain.
7. Pension reforms in Spain: Evaluation of the 2011-2013 pension reforms in Spain using the Swedish NDC system as a benchmark, focusing on how the reforms diverged from the proposed improvements in equity and transparency.
8. Integration of retirement and disability pensions: Theoretical work on unifying retirement and disability pensions within a single framework, aiming for a more cohesive pension system that better accommodates various life contingencies.
9. Long-term care financing: Research on combining pension benefits with long-term care coverage, addressing the growing need for integrated solutions as populations age.
10. Mortality studies: Analysis of mortality tables and their updates, focusing on how these are used to assess life expectancy and adjust conversion factors in pension systems. This includes evaluating the impact of demographic changes on mortality rates and how these affect pensions.
11. Table 29 for pension system solvency analysis: Dr. Vidal-Meliá’s work delves into the critical assessment of Table 29, which compares the assets and liabilities of a pension system to give a true and fair view of its financial health. This includes evaluating how demographic changes and economic volatility are reflected in actuarial projections and the necessary solvency measures.
12. Demographic coherence in mortality tables for LCAs and LTCI: His research emphasizes the need for consistency between demographic assumptions and the mortality tables used to calculate the premiums of life care annuities (LCAs) and long-term care insurance (LTCI). Ensuring demographic coherence is essential for accurately pricing these products and avoiding discrepancies that could impact their financial sustainability.

Policy Influence

In 2009, as part of the Toledo Pact, Dr. Vidal-Meliá proposed reforms to the Spanish public pension system inspired by the Swedish model. His suggestions, including the introduction of notional accounts, actuarial balances, and automatic balance mechanisms, aimed to improve equity, transparency, solvency, and communication within the system. However, the reforms implemented in Spain between 2011 and 2013 significantly diverged from his recommendations.

Key publications on this topic include:

• Vidal-Meliá, C. (2014). An Assessment of the 2011 Spanish Pension Reform Using the Swedish System as Benchmark, Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, 13(03), 297-333.
• Vidal-Meliá, C. (2014). Una storia infinita (The 2011-2013 Spanish pension reform: a never-ending story), Opificium, Revista Consiglio Nazionale Periti Industriali, 5(4), 38-41.

Consulting and Professional Experience

His professional experience has primarily focused on the financial sector of regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and on the field of social security, both public and private. In the public sector, he has led, participated in, advised, and/or conducted research for: the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the World Bank, the Swedish Social Security Agency, IVIE, Funcas, the Ministry of Labour and Immigration, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. In the private sector, his professional work has been directed towards actuarial opinions and reviews for various insurance companies, pension externalization issues, retirement awards, judicial expertise, etc. Without attempting to be exhaustive, he has carried out professional work and/or delivered specialized courses for: ASEVAL, BIA Galicia/CXG Aviva, Vidacaixa, Santander Pensiones, Cámara Valencia, Federico Domenech S.A., Ford España S.A., Getronics S.A., Grupo Aguas de Valencia, Grupo Boluda S.A., Iberdrola S.A., INARCASSA (Rome), MARVALSA, PHILIPS, Unión Naval de Barcelona S.A., Instituto de Estudios Fiscales, the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIREF), and various universities such as Jaume I (Castellón), UCLM, Extremadura, Jaén, UPO (Seville), and Valladolid.

Teaching work

His teaching has primarily focused on the areas of Financial and Actuarial Mathematics, Life Insurance, Dependency and Health, Pension Plans, Social Security Techniques, and Financial and Cost Accounting.