Fitxa persona

I was born in Novelda (Alicante, Spain) in 1967. I obtained a degree in Physics (specializing in Theoretical Physics) from the Universitat de València in 1989 and a PhD in Physics from the same university in 1995.

I carried out my postdoctoral research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (1996–1999) and at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (2000–2002), where I established international scientific collaborations that remain active today.

I joined the Universitat de València in 2002 as a Ramón y Cajal research fellow. In 2006 I obtained a tenured position as Associate Professor, and since 2017 I have been Full Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics. I currently hold five six-year research evaluation periods (“sexenios”) and six five-year teaching evaluation periods (“quinquenios”).

My research activity focuses mainly on Extragalactic Astrophysics and Cosmology. I have published 128 papers in high-impact international journals, accumulating more than 5,300 citations and an h-index of 41. Since 2003 I have served continuously as Principal Investigator in ten competitive research projects: seven funded through the Spanish National Plan, one funded by the European Union (Marie Curie Network), one by the Generalitat Valenciana, and one by NASA through the Space Telescope Science Institute. I have also been awarded observing time as Principal Investigator at leading international facilities such as the Gran Telescopio Canarias and the Hubble Space Telescope.

My current research interests include the cosmological model, galactic structure and dark matter, the unresolved structure of quasars, and the search for exoplanets, with particular emphasis on gravitational lensing and microlensing techniques.

In the field of teaching, I have taught undergraduate and master’s degree courses for 28 academic years, covering a wide range of subjects and receiving very positive evaluations. I currently direct the University of Valencia’s postgraduate program “Expert Course in Observational Astrophysics”. In addition, at the Universitat de València I have supervised, as sole advisor, three PhD theses with International Mention, one of which received the Extraordinary Doctoral Award.

Regarding university management, I have been director of the Astronomical Observatory of the Universitat de València since September 1, 2020. Previously, I served as director of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (2011–2015) and as secretary of the same department (2007–2011).