Photo by Xènia Fuentes (2024)

Short Bio

I am a mathematician specialising in probability theory and was a full professor at the University of Barcelona (UB) from 1986 until my retirement in October 2022, when I became Professor Emeritus. I have been an elected member of the Institute of Catalan Studies since 2016, the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona since 2019, and an honorary fellow of the Catalan College of Economists since 2017. In 2024, I was elected a member of the Academia Europaea and, in 2025, of the European Academy of Sciences.

My academic career began at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Before joining the UB, I held a tenured position as Associate Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. From 1993 to 1996, I served as Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics at the UB, and from 2000 to 2003 as Vice-President of the Division of Experimental Sciences and Mathematics, where I was responsible for research and doctoral studies. In 2023, I was appointed Vice-President of I-CERCA, the Catalan government institution responsible for overseeing the public research centres of Catalonia across all disciplines.

I am very grateful for the awards and recognition I have received over the years. These include the Narcís Monturiol Medal for Scientific and Technological Excellence of the Government of Catalonia (1998), the Medal of the Real Sociedad Matemática Española (2017) for my scientific contributions and relevant international positions and service, and the Creu de Sant Jordi by the Government of Catalonia (2024) for outstanding services to Catalonia and contributions to its civic and cultural life. In 2011, I was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA) and in 2017, I was elected honorary fellow of the Catalan College of Economists. Also in 2017, I was selected for a Medallion Lecture by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

Research Interests

My work lies in stochastic analysis. Since 2006, I have led the UB research group on stochastic processes, served as principal investigator of numerous research projects, and collaborated on several EU-funded projects. My scientific contributions, carried out in collaboration with international researchers and PhD students, have advanced the fields of random fields, analysis on Wiener space (Malliavin calculus), and the theory of stochastic differential and stochastic partial differential equations. These contributions include results on large deviations, support theorems, the regularity of sample paths of solutions, and the study of their fractal properties, among other topics. My publication record includes more than 100 research articles (according to MathSciNet and zbMath Open), a monograph on Malliavin calculus and its applications to stochastic partial differential equations, and, jointly with my colleague Robert Dalang, a monograph on stochastic partial differential equations published in 2026. I have supervised 11 PhD theses and many Bachelor's and Master's theses.

Service

I have served on numerous scientific committees for international conferences, scientific societies, and prize committees in mathematics and other scientific disciplines. Examples include the Scientific Committee of the 5th European Congress of Mathematics (Amsterdam, 2008), the Probability Panel of the International Congress of Mathematicians ICM 2022, and the Abel Committee for the Abel Prize in 2016 and 2017.

I have also been actively involved in editorial work, serving on the editorial boards of several international mathematical journals, including the Annals of Probability from 2015 to 2020. In addition, I have served on a number of international committees overseeing mathematical sciences, including the Board of Directors of the Institut Henri Poincaré, the Research and Education Committee of the École Polytechnique, and the Scientific Committee of the Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques (Luminy), all in France, the Scientific Council of the Banach Center (Warsaw), the Fellows Committee and the Committee on Special Lectures of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA), and the Board of Directors of the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica in Bellaterra (Barcelona). I currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris and the Korteweg–de Vries Institute for Mathematics in Amsterdam, as well as on the Fellows Committee of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

Mathematics in Europe

From 1997 to 2004, I was a member of the Executive Committee of the European Mathematical Society. In 2010, I was elected President by the Society's Council and served in that role from January 2011 to December 2014. Since the creation of the European Research Council (ERC) in 2007, I have been actively involved in its evaluation activities. In 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021, I served on the Consolidator Grants panel PE1 (Mathematics), chairing the panel in the 2019 and 2021 calls.

Abridged CV (here)