Joan Torrent-Sellens

Full Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). He holds a PhD in Economics (PhD in Information and Knowledge Society from the UOC). He holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration, and a Master's degree in Applied Economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research activity is related to the analysis of the business, economic, labour, well-being and health, and sustainability dimensions of digital transformation and transition. He develops five lines of analysis: i) digital transformation and transition, productivity, competitiveness, and sustainability; ii) the future of work; iii) eLearning, entrepreneurship, and employability; iv) eHealth and telemedicine; and v) the political economy of AI. He is the founder and co-director of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on ICT - Artificial Intelligence Lab (i2TIC - IA Lab) at the UOC. This interdisciplinary, interuniversity, and international research group is recognized as a Consolidated Research Group (File No.: 2021 SGR 01031) and brings together 50 researchers, postdocs, and doctoral students from various fields of the social sciences. The main objective of i2TIC - AI Lab is to conduct research, dissemination, transfer, and innovation activities on the background and uses; complementarities with people, organisations, and territories; and the individual and socioeconomic (work, well-being, health, and governance), business (value, productivity, competitiveness, business structure and dynamics), and environmental (sustainability) effects of digital technologies, especially AI. As a result of this research dynamic, he has published 134 articles in international and national scientific journals, including 67 articles in journals indexed in WoS JCR and 21 articles in SJR SCOPUS. He is the author of 49 books and 28 book chapters, published by prestigious publishers such as IGI Global, Springer-Verlag, Palgrave MacMillan, Dykinson, Peter Lang, IntechOpen, Tirant lo Blanch, Ariel, Pirámide, ESIC, and Mundi Prensa. He has participated in more than 50 national and international scientific conferences, giving around 125 lectures and presentations at various conferences and transfer activities. He has directed 15 competitive or contracted research projects, funded by entities such as the European Commission, the European Social Fund, the Structural Funds, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Council of Labor, Economic and Social Affairs of Catalonia, the Girona Chamber of Commerce, and the Barcelona Digital Foundation, among others. He has supervised 11 doctoral theses (plus 5 under his supervision). He is a reviewer for 50 scientific journals and serves on several scientific panels (AQU, ANECA, AEI). He has received 6 research awards. He teaches in the Bachelor's Degrees in Economics and Sustainable Management, Digital Transformation, and the Environment, and in the Master's Degrees in Economic Analysis and Human Resources Management at the UOC. He is currently the director of the UOC's Research Center on Digital Transformation and Governance (UOC-DIGIT).