L. Alfonso Ureña is an academic and researcher in the field of natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence. He is Professor of Computer Languages ​​and Systems at the University of Jaén and director of the Isdefe/CETEDEX-UJA Chair, a joint initiative between the Spanish Defense Systems Engineering Institute (Isdefe) and the University of Jaén (UJA). He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Confederation of Scientific Societies of Spain (COSCE). Throughout his career, he has held various positions of responsibility, including director of the Center for Studies in Information and Communication Technologies (CEATIC) at the University of Jaén and president of the Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing (SEPLN) for 16 years.

His research focuses primarily on AI and specifically on Natural Language Processing (NLP), encompassing areas such as sentiment analysis, information retrieval, language models, and security. He has published extensively, with over 250 articles in high-impact journals and at prestigious conferences.

He has led numerous national and international research projects, as well as knowledge transfer initiatives with companies. He has supervised numerous doctoral theses and regularly participates in leading scientific and evaluation committees in his field. His knowledge transfer efforts include the creation of a spin-off company specializing in Artificial Intelligence, in addition to his role as a technology advisor to various companies.

Among other accolades, he received the Eliza Award in 2024 for his contribution to the development of NLP in Spain and Latin America. Currently, he leads the ALIA project at the University of Jaén, within the framework of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2024. A national strategic project coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC-CNS), with the participation of entities such as the University of the Basque Country, the University of Santiago de Compostela, the University of Jaén and the University of Alicante, under the leadership of the State Secretariat for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA) of the Government of Spain.