Francisco Herrera, an example of the best of the province according to IDEAL’s editorial board

2 December, 2024

The editorial staff of IDEAL has selected, as it does every year, five people or groups who have stood out throughout 2024 for their contribution to society, science or for their outstanding achievements. These figures, representative of the best of Granada, will be recognised with the award that bears the name of this newspaper, an award that is now in its 37th edition.

The award ceremony, which is by invitation only, will take place this Thursday 5 December at 19:00 at the Palacio de Congresos, and will be attended by the President of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno.

This event, which has become a year-end tradition, will be broadcast live on ideal.es and will receive extensive coverage in a special supplement. This year’s winners cover areas such as sport, culture, associations, science and personal careers in the economic sphere.

They are five outstanding examples of Granada society, selected by the IDEAL team, which acts as observer and narrator of what is happening in the province. The IDEALES awards also seek to highlight the essential role of journalism in an era marked by the proliferation of fake news and disinformation. Since its foundation, IDEAL has been committed to reporting with rigour and reflecting the reality of Granada accurately.

This year, the gala was inspired by a slogan that sums up the commitment and daily dedication of its journalists: ‘Commitment, the value of the word’, a phrase that encapsulates the spirit of the ceremony and the media’s informative work.

One of those selected was Francisco Herrera, professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Granada and renowned researcher in this field. The University of Granada is positioned as a leader in artificial intelligence thanks to the work of its research groups, among which Herrera’s work stands out.

His career has been key to the University’s consolidation as a benchmark in this field. As a promoter of Granada’s role in the development of artificial intelligence, Herrera has contributed to positioning the city as a leading centre in this discipline. He currently directs the Andalusian Inter-University Institute in Data Science and Computational Intelligence and is a member of the government’s advisory council on artificial intelligence, a body that brings together experts from the scientific, economic and educational fields to address the ethical use of this technology. Since 2019, he has been a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain and has received important awards, such as the Medal of Andalusia in 2017.

On the global scene, Herrera is one of the most cited researchers. According to Google Scholar, he has more than 446 indexed publications and his work has been cited 162,512 times. He recently took part in a round table in Abu Dhabi together with Nobel Prize winner Guido Imbens.

Born in Jódar in 1966, he came to Granada to study Mathematics, at which time he began his contact with computer science. He later completed a PhD in artificial intelligence. In recent years, his research has focused on promoting ethical and reliable artificial intelligence, advocating a responsible use of algorithms to ensure that the technology is a beneficial tool for humanity.

Throughout his career, both in his academic work and in the institutional positions he has held at the University of Granada and the City Council, Francisco Herrera has been a strong advocate of Granada’s scientific and entrepreneurial talent in the field of artificial intelligence.