Research Excellence in AI

ELLIS Alicante is building world-class research capacity in human-centric artificial intelligence—pioneering how AI can understand, interact with, and serve people ethically and responsibly.

Shaping the future of AI-human interaction

AI systems have become woven into the fabric of daily life. They help us find information, recommend content, predict weather patterns, recognize faces, assist vehicles in avoiding accidents, and countless other applications. These intelligent systems represent decades of advances in computer science.

Yet the majority of AI research today comes from technology companies in North America and China, driven primarily by commercial interests. This has created a critical gap: independent, ethical AI research examining how these systems affect society—from algorithmic discrimination to behavioral manipulation, from privacy erosion to concentration of power.

Europe has an essential role to play. Our values of human dignity, democratic governance, and social responsibility can guide the development of AI systems that genuinely improve lives and contribute to authentic progress.

Research inspired by real challenges

Our projects address the questions people face when interacting with today’s AI systems:

• Why do some people receive loans while others don’t? We’re developing fairness techniques that identify and mitigate algorithmic discrimination in high-stakes decision-making systems.

• Has your artistic content been censored or shadow-banned on social media? We’re investigating how content moderation algorithms impact creative expression and freedom of speech online.

• Do beauty filters change how we perceive and judge others? We’re studying cognitive biases amplified by AI, from attractiveness halos to their impact on hiring and social outcomes.

• Are AI language models perpetuating gender stereotypes? We’re measuring and addressing bias in large language models, especially in gendered languages like Spanish.

• Can we use AI for social good without compromising privacy? We’re pioneering privacy-preserving machine learning techniques, from federated learning to secure data analysis for public health.

• How can mobile data help respond to crises like pandemics? We’re developing methods to use behavioral data for societal benefit while protecting individual privacy.

AI algorithms already influence our behavior and make life-impacting decisions—often without transparency or ethical oversight. These aren’t hypothetical future concerns. They’re questions that matter today.

Research excellence and impact

ELLIS Alicante maintains the highest standards of scientific excellence, publishing exclusively in premier international venues and competing with the world’s leading AI research institutions.

Publishing in the world’s most competitive venues

Our researchers publish at top-tier conferences and journals where acceptance rates are typically 15-25%, representing only the most significant advances in the field:

• NeurIPS (Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems) - One of the three most prestigious AI conferences globally
• ICML (International Conference on Machine Learning) - Premier venue for machine learning research
• CHI (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) - Top conference for human-computer interaction
• ACL (Association for Computational Linguistics) - Leading venue for natural language processing
• ICWSM (International Conference on Web and Social Media) - Premier computational social science conference
• Nature journals and other high-impact scientific publications

These venues receive thousands of submissions annually from research groups worldwide, accepting only work that represents genuine scientific breakthroughs and methodological innovations.

Best paper awards and recognition

Our work has earned 5+ best paper awards at international conferences, recognizing research that stands out even among the small fraction of papers accepted to these elite venues:

• Best Paper Award - MLG 2025 (Mining and Learning with Graphs) at ECML-PKDD
• Best Paper Award - Sister conference track recognition at IJCAI
• Multiple top paper recognitions at premier venues

These awards reflect peer recognition that our contributions represent the most impactful work presented at these conferences.

ELLIS excellence standards

As part of the ELLIS network, we maintain rigorous selection criteria for all researchers:

ELLIS Fellows (Senior Researchers):

• Typically 10+ years post-PhD experience
• Median h-index of 53 among current Fellows
• Track record of significant scientific contributions
• Regular publications in top-tier venues
• Leadership in the research community through editorial boards, program committees, and invited presentations

ELLIS Scholars (Junior Researchers):

• Up to 10 years post-PhD experience
• H-index of 14 or higher (median 19)
• Clear trajectory toward Fellowship level
• Demonstrated excellence through publications, awards, and research impact

These standards are comparable to ERC grant requirements and selection criteria at the world’s most prestigious research institutions. We don’t just measure productivity—we evaluate scientific impact, methodological innovation, and contribution to advancing human knowledge.

Training the next generation

Our PhD students are trained to these same exacting standards, supervised by world-class researchers and expected to publish in top venues as part of their doctoral work. This ensures the next generation of AI researchers maintains the highest levels of scientific rigor and ethical responsibility.

Building AI that serves humanity

We’re working to understand both the scope and impact of AI in our lives, and to invent intelligent systems that place human wellbeing at their core. Not AI that maximizes engagement or profit, but AI designed for authentic human flourishing.

This is the AI revolution we’re building—for and by the people.