María Pilar Hernando Serra has a degree and doctorate from the University of Valencia with the thesis "The town hall of Valencia at the beginning of the 19th century. Three models of organization, 1800-1814". Professor of Legal History at the University of Valencia, she has worked on different lines of research: municipal administration and economic regime of the Old Regime and contemporary age; history of the University; and political and constitutional history (19th-20th centuries). Of her different themes, she is the author of two monographs, one in collaboration, referring to the French administration in Valencia during the War of Independence, as well as other publications on the Cortes of Cádiz and said historical period. Of political history, focused especially on the period of the Second Republic, in addition to publications in magazines and books with scientific content, his latest monograph (Tirant lo Blanch, 2020) stands out, which has dealt with the different attempts and projects for Valencian status in the 1930s. In addition, other publications in magazines and books with scientific content on the other subjects of his research (university history, local government, public history, etc.).

Since joining the university until now, he has continuously participated in research projects (R&D) financed by the Ministry, the Generalitat Valenciana and other private institutions, such as the BBVA foundation. Projects directed by researchers from the University of Valencia, the University of Huelva and the Carlos III University of Madrid on the history of Universities and the University of Alicante on Public History. This latest project has been awarded the “Manuel Pérez Ledesma” Dissemination Prize in Contemporary History (May 2022). Currently it is also partfrom a PROMETEO Research project funded by the Generalitat Valenciana, The Spanish University: responses to current Challenges from its history and another from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Instruments for the history of legal disciplines: towards a repertoire of Ibero-American Legal Journals from the University of Huelva.

He has carried out research stays at the University of Murcia, as well as at the Università di Roma La Sapienza (2007), at the Università Bocconi di Milano (2011) at the Università di Bologna (2017) and at the Università degli Studi di Firenze(2024). He has been part of the teaching staff of the Scuola Estiva di Alta Formazione Montalbano-Elicona of the Università degli Studi di Messina (Italy) in the field of the International Interuniversity Research Doctorate in “History and comparison of the istituzioni politiche e giuridiche europee”.

As a teacher, she has participated in educational innovation programs and projects, in the “Legal Clinic for Social Justice” of the University of Valencia and has been a professor in the Master of International and European Union Studies since 2012. She has also taught in the degrees of Political Sciences and Public Administration, Law and in the double degrees ADE-Law, Law-Political Sciences and Public Administration and Political Science and Public Administration-Sociology.

In terms of management work, she is a member of the Academic Commission of the Degree in Political Sciences and Administration since 2010. She has been coordinator of the History of Law Area and since January 2011, coordinator of the double degree in Law-Political Sciences and Public Administration until December 2021. InIn January 2022, she was appointed Vice Dean of Political Science and Public Administration Studies, Research and Culture, and since May 2024, Vice Dean of Political Science Studies, Public Administration and Culture.