Ana Freire

Ana Freire, an engineer and PhD in Computer Science, is Director of the department of Operations, Technology and Science at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona School of Management. As a teacher and researcher, she's one of Spain's leaders in artificial intelligence applied to mental health. In 2017 she created the STOP project (Suicide prevenTion in sOcial Platforms) which uses Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to study mental problems in social media and offer help to those who may need emotional support.

She's worked at internationally renowned centres such as Yahoo Labs, the University of Glasgow and Italy's National Research Council. She's contributed to more than 50 scientific publications, several patents and has won numerous national and international awards, including the Young Female Scientific Talent Award from the Royal Academy of Sciences Foundation and Mastercard and the Ada Byron Junior Award from the University of Deusto. She was included by Business Insider on the list of the 23 young Spaniards called to lead the technological revolution.

Freire is also a great populariser of science and technology, participating as a speaker at numerous national and international events. A good example was her lecture at TEDx UDeusto "Technology and Mental Health: rivals or allies?"