[Biography, english version]

Hellow,

My name is Valentín Bou-Franch. I got the Degree in Law at the University of Valencia on July 4, 1984. In this same University, I defended my Undergraduate Thesis the 26th of September 1986, as well as  my Doctoral Thesis on the 21st of December 1990.

Currently, I am a Full Professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Valencia (Spain). I am also the holder of a Jean Monnet Chair granted by the European Union in regime of competitive concurrence at the global level. The University of Valencia, through its Office of Policy for Excellence (OPEX) has honoured me, recognizing my Jean Monnet Chair as an institutional Chair of the University of Valencia, with the abbreviated name of Jean Monnet Chair "European values".

Both my academic training and my professional career are very much linked to the 'Adolfo Miaja de la Muela' Department of International Law at the Faculty of Law of this University.

The Spanish Ministry of Science and Education has recognized me five consecutive sections (six-year periods) of excellence in research (years: 1989-2018); six consecutive stretches (five-year periods) of excellence in teaching (years: 1987-2016); and ten consecutive three-year periods of seniority (years: 1987-2016).

My main lines of research include: the Legal Regime of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, International Law of the Sea, International Environmental Law, Procedures for the Settlement of International Disputes, International Protection of Cultural Heritage, European Union Law, International Criminal Law and International Law of Human Rights.

My participation in competitive Research, Development and Innovation (R+D+I) Projects financed with public funds has consisted in participating as a Researcher in six R+D+I Projects funded by the European Union (two times as the Main Researcher); in nine R+D+I Projects at state level (four times as the Main Researcher); and in eight R+D+I Projects at regional level (five times as the Main Researcher). I have obtained two Grants for special R+D+I Actions and three Complementary Grants for R+D+I Projects. I have also participated in two Teaching Innovation Projects.

I am the author of an important number of publications which, along with other aspects relevant for my professional curriculum vitae, you can consult at my Web page:

https://valentinbou.es

José Juan Castelló Pastor is Lecturer of Private International Law at the University of Valencia, with a solid and recognized academic and research background at the intersection of law, technology, and international trade. He holds a Law Degree (UVEG), an LLM from Queen Mary University of London, and a Doctorate in Law from the UVEG, with honors ‘Cum Laude’ and ‘Doctor Internacional’. He has been awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize and the Juan de la Cierva-Formación postdoctoral scholarship, and has two six-year periods of research (CNEAI) and two five-year periods of teaching.
His specialization focuses on digital law, intellectual and industrial property, e-commerce, and the regulatory challenges of innovation in the European Union. He has a proven track record of consistent and impactful scientific output: two monographs, 17 articles in indexed scientific journals, and 32 book chapters. He maintains a strong international presence, participating in conferences, seminars, and presentations at leading forums such as WIPO (Geneva), Fordham University (New York), the University of Bologna, and the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil), as well as numerous Spanish venues.
He has led competitive research as Principal Investigator in three projects: (1) ‘Towards a person-centered digital transition in the European Union’ (TED2021-129307A-I00, 2022-2025); (2) ‘The protection of rights in the digital environment’ (GV/2019/118, 2019-2021); and (3) ‘Protection of inventions of interest to national defense’ (CUD-UNIZAR). He is currently part of teams working on strategic projects on the modernization of the industrial and intellectual property regime in light of the digital agenda and sustainability (PID2022-136567NB-I00) and on digitization and genomic editing in agriculture (CIAICO/2023/2695). His experience is complemented by participation in state and European projects, including EUFAM'S II (JUST-JCOO-AG-2017-800780) and Save Comp (JUST/2014/ACTION GRANTS), reinforcing a profile focused on complex and cross-border regulatory issues.
He has conducted research stays at centers of excellence (Max Planck Institute in Munich on Innovation and Competition) and top-tier universities such as Columbia University, Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Fordham University, Università di Bologna, Universität Mainz, and Universidade do Porto, consolidating a comparative perspective that is particularly relevant to legal practice in digital and internal market scenarios.
In academic management, he promotes collective works with high editorial impact (‘Towards a person-centered digital transition: legal studies from the perspective of the European Union’, Aranzadi La Ley, 2025; ‘Analysis of the EU Digital Services Regulation and its interrelation with other European Union regulations’, Aranzadi, 2024; 'Legal challenges facing digital integration: European and international aspects', Aranzadi, 2021; and ‘Electronic contracting and e-commerce law in the European Union and Spain’, Tirant Lo Blanch, 2021). He also directs the International Congress ‘The Protection of Rights in the Digital Environment’ (I-IV editions: 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025), which has established itself as a leading forum for scientific and legal debate on rights, innovation, and regulation.
In teaching, he regularly lectures on private international law and international trade law in bachelor's and double degree programs at the University of Valencia, as well as subjects in master's programs (international trade law in the Master's Degree in Economic Internationalization: International Trade Management; arbitration as ADR in the Master's Degree in Mediation, Arbitration, and Conflict Management in Private Law; Competition and Intellectual Property in the Double Master's Degree in Law and Business Law, among others), and the subject ‘Regulatory Framework for Subjects in the Digital Environment’ in the Master's Degree in LegalTech & Compliance Officer (UVEG). He has also taught ICT and video game law (Jaume I University) and engineering degrees (CUD-UNIZAR), as well as teaching in English in international programs (Business Law and International Business Law in MBA). Internationally, he has taught postgraduate and doctoral courses in Central America (Guatemala and Honduras) and seminars in the Joint International Doctoral (Ph.D.) in Law, Science and Technology (C.I.R.S.F.I.D., Università di Bologna).
He is a member of the University Institute of Property Law - Patrimonium (UV) and the research groups GEDPED (European and Digital Private Law Study Group) and GIPI (Intellectual and Industrial Property R&D Group) at the University of Valencia, actively contributing to the modernization of the European and international legal framework in the areas of digital technology, innovation, and intangible assets.

[Biography, english version]

[Biography, english version]

[ Automatic translation ]

Professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Valencia. He has been a visiting research fellow at the University of Georgetown, at the London School of Economics and Political Science at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law of the University of Cambridge. His current lines of research, and the foreign policy and common security of the European Union. Has belonged to the research team of different competitive research projects, among which it is worth mentioning: the Struggle of civilizations (Islamic State: challenges and implications for the UN, the International Community and to its Right). What an alliance of civilizations against the Islamic State? (DER2015-64205-R); The growing involvement of the EU in the international society: regionalism in theory and in practice (DER2012-38401-C02-01); The organizational structure of international terrorism: analysis of its evolution and its implications for European security (CSO2010-17849). Among his publications include the monographs, La Guerra de Af-Pakistán y el uso de la fuerza en las relaciones internacionales (2012), and Una tierra, dos Estados: Análisis jurídico-político del conflicto árabe-israelí (2011, in collaboration with Prof. Bermejo García), as well as articles published in professional journals, relating to the legal framework of the use of force, the responsibility to protect, the use of drones and deadly attacks selective operations of maintenance of peace, legal problems posed by the resort to military companies and private security in areas of conflict as well as analysis from specific conflicts.

NOTICIA CURRICULAR

Predoctoral researcher in the Department of International Law "Adolfo Miaja de la Muela" Area of Public International Law, Member of the Institut de Drets Humans, Universitat de València (IDHUV)

Karla Zambrano González is an Assistant Professor of Private International Law in the Adolfo Miaja de la Muela Department of International Law at the University of Valencia. Her doctoral thesis was entitled “The Challenge of Climate Change in International and European Law” and received the highest grade: Summa Cum Laude and International Mention.

She has held a pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Universities and currently maintains an interest in different lines of research related to her thesis topic. One of these lines is the study of European public policy scenarios in the field of energy in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Valencia (ECHO). Another of these areas focuses on mechanisms for adaptation to climate change and protection of the marine environment. This gave her the oppotunity of being granted a second postdoctoral fellowship, CIAPOS/2023/181, funded by the Generalitat Valenciana, in the AGUDEMA research group at the University of Zaragoza. Recently, following her appointment as Assistant Professor, she has embarked on three new lines of research: (i) the sustainability of non-state actors, (ii) the individual transition to resilient agri-food diets and the reasons for the settlement of migrants in rural areas at risk of depopulation, and (iii) the circular economy, entrepreneurship, and migrant women.

She actively collaborates in legal research as an external expert in the ICTvsCC Group of the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (ITACA) at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and was named Juan de la Cierva Researcher in the 2023 Call for Applications, but declined the position due to incompatibility with her current academic status.

For more than six years, she has focused on university teaching. She has been a Lecturer of Public International Law and International Environmental Law at the University of Valencia, where she taught these subjects in Spanish, Valencian, and English. She has also been Lecturer at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR), where she has been in charge of the following subjects: Citizenship and Human Rights: Borders and Migration; and Human Rights, New Technologies, and Biolaw, both part of the Master's Degree in Human Rights: Protection Systems. In addition, she has supervised numerous Master's Theses for the Master's Degree in Law and Advocacy, the Master's Degree in Environmental Law, and the Master's Degree in Human Rights. Thanks to her experience in the legal field and international commercial operations, he has also taught the subject of Commercial Law in the Bachelor's Degree in Labor Relations at UNIR.

As part of her teacher training, she has taken several courses and seminars on Educational innovation and has completed her Master's Degree in Secondary Education Teaching at the University of Valencia, with an outstanding grade point average, thus obtaining pedagogical skills and extensive knowledge in terms of teaching innovation and new methodologies applied to the European education framework.

In terms of her development as a researcher, she stands out as an active member of the UV's own research group: “Sustainable Development, Global and Regional Governance, Contemporary International and European Order - DSGMROIEC.” She is also recognized for her research activity at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, as a member of the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (ITACA-UPV), under the direction of Dr. Javier Urchueguía Schözel, and at the International University of La Rioja, in the DESONT group: Law, Sustainability, and New Technologies. She has been a visiting researcher at the following research centers: the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance (CEENRG) at the University of Cambridge, the Institut de recherche en droit international et européen de la Sorbonne (IREDIES) at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Centre for International Law and Governance (CILG) at the University of Copenhagen, the Institute of Political Science and Administration at the University of Opole (Poland), and the University of Chicago (Regenstein Library).

As a result of her research activity, she is recognized for her participation in various national and international conferences and seminars, as well as her various publications on the legal treatment of climate change, migration, and human rights. She has been awarded the “Tomás y Valiente” prize from the University of Valencia for the best legal research of 2021 and the “Fernando Sapiña 2022” prize from the same institution for the development of teaching materials in English for the subject of International Environmental Law.

She has been a practicing lawyer with the Valencia Bar Association (ICAV) until September 2024, which has allowed her to specialize in public and private international law, as well as taking on the legal representation of civil cases assigned by the ICAV's Legal Aid and Detention Assistance Section.

For more details, see: www.karlazambranosite.com