Biography

Nuria Oliver is a computer scientist and a leading researcher in human-centered artificial intelligence. She is Director and cofounder of ELLIS Alicante, cofounder and vice-president of ELLIS, the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems, and Chief Data Scientist at Data-Pop Alliance. Her work focuses on developing artificial intelligence that understands people, works with people, and serves society.

With more than 25 years of research experience, she has worked at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, mobile computing, and computational social science. Her research has helped advance computational models of individual and collective human behavior, intelligent and multimodal interfaces, context-aware systems, mobile data analysis, and AI for social good.

Career and education

Oliver graduated at the top of her class in Telecommunications Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 1994. She earned her PhD from the MIT Media Lab in 2000, where her research explored perceptual intelligence and systems capable of understanding human behavior.

She joined Microsoft Research in Redmond in 2000. After returning to Spain, she helped establish and lead an internationally recognized research organization at Telefónica R&D, serving as its first female Scientific Director. From 2017 to 2019, she was the first Director of Data Science Research at Vodafone globally. Across these roles, she built research teams and translated advances in AI, data science, and human-computer interaction into technologies used at scale.

Today, she leads ELLIS Alicante, an institute devoted to foundational and applied research in human-centered AI. She also serves as Chief Data Scientist at Data-Pop Alliance, where data and AI are used to address social and humanitarian challenges.

Research and impact

Oliver's research examines how artificial intelligence can model human behavior, support human decision-making, and contribute to the public good. Her current interests include human-AI interaction, algorithmic fairness, privacy, transparency, interpretability, educational AI, computational social science, and the societal impact of generative AI.

She has authored more than 160 scientific publications and is the named inventor of 40 patents. Her work has received best-paper and long-term-impact recognition and has influenced research in ubiquitous computing, personalized systems, mobile data analysis, and computational models of behavior.

In 2021, she co-led the winning team of the XPRIZE Pandemic Response Challenge. The team developed data-driven AI models designed to help decision-makers compare intervention strategies during a global crisis.

Scientific leadership

Oliver is a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, the European Association for Artificial Intelligence, ELLIS, and the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association. She is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering, Academia Europaea, and the CHI Academy, and a corresponding member of the Academy of Engineering of Mexico.

She has contributed extensively to the international scientific community through editorial boards, conference leadership, advisory committees, and the evaluation and mentoring of researchers. She has chaired or co-chaired major conferences in artificial intelligence, data science, multimedia, human-computer interaction, and digital health. A detailed record is available on the Program Committees and Professional Service page.

Selected recognition

Her recent distinctions include the 2025 Julio Rey Pastor National Research Award in Mathematics and Information and Communication Technologies, the 2025 Talgo Award for Excellence of Women in Engineering, the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize, the King Jaume I Award in New Technologies, and the Abie Technology Leadership Award.

Earlier honors include the European Data Scientist of the Year Award, the Spanish Angela Ruiz Robles National Computer Science Award, the European Digital Woman of the Year Award, the Ada Byron Award, and MIT Technology Review's TR100 Young Innovator Award. She received an honorary doctorate from Miguel Hernández University. The complete record is available on the Awards and Honors page.

Public engagement

Oliver regularly speaks to scientific, professional, and public audiences about artificial intelligence and its societal implications. Her invited talks address both technical advances and broader questions concerning responsible AI, digital transformation, education, and the future of technology.

She is committed to making science and technology accessible to the public and to encouraging young people, particularly girls, to pursue careers in STEM. Her work and perspectives have appeared in international and Spanish media, including the BBC, WIRED, MIT Technology Review, The Economist, NPR, RTVE, and El País. Selected appearances are collected in the Press Coverage archive.

Short biography

Nuria Oliver is Director and cofounder of ELLIS Alicante, cofounder and vice-president of ELLIS, and Chief Data Scientist at Data-Pop Alliance. She holds a PhD from the MIT Media Lab and has more than 25 years of research experience in artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, mobile computing, and computational social science. Her career includes Microsoft Research, Telefónica R&D, and Vodafone, where she was the first Director of Data Science Research globally. Her work focuses on human-centered and socially responsible AI. She has authored more than 160 scientific publications, is the named inventor of 40 patents, and co-led the winning team of the XPRIZE Pandemic Response Challenge. She is a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, EurAI, ELLIS, and AAIA, and a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering, Academia Europaea, and the CHI Academy.