PERSONAL INFORMATION
Full name: PONCE ALVAREZ, Adrián Fernando.
Birth: 1982, Mexico.
Nationality: Mexican, Spanish.
AUTHOR DETAILS
Researcher ID: A-5698-2018
Author ID: 26538097300
ORCID code: 0000-0003-1446-7392
PRESENT FFILIATIONS
1. Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Department of Mathematics.
2. Institut de Matemàtiques de la UPC - Barcelona Tech (IMTech), Barcelona, Spain.
3. Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Barcelona, Spain.
PAST AFFILIATIONS
1. Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC), Computational Neuroscience group, Pompeu Fabra University.
2. Center for Gender Studies (CEdGE), Pompeu Fabra University.
EDUCATION
[2001-2004] Bachelor's degree in Physics, University of Paris-Sud 11.
[2004-2005] Master I in Physics, University of Paris-Sud 11.
[2005-2006] Master II in Physics of Biological Systems, University of Paris-Sud 11.
[2006-2010] Ph.D. in Neurosciences, Aix-Marseille University, France.
PERSONAL FELLOWSHIPS
[2006-2010] Doctoral fellowship from the Mexican Government (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT).
[2009] RIKEN CBS Summer Program from RIKEN Institue (Japan).
[2016-2018] Postdoctoral fellowship Juan de la Cierva fellowship from the Spanish Government.
[2022-2027] Ramón y Cajal fellowship from the Spanish Government.
PARTICIPATION IN PRIVATE/PUBLIC PROJECTS
[2023-2027] “The role of cell types in critical neural activity”, Spanish State Research Agency (PID2022-137708NB-I00). PI: A. Ponce-Alvarez.
[2020-2022] “Data and models for the understanding of consciousness”, Human Brain Project SGA3.
[2018–2020] "Comparative Investigation of the Cortical Circuits in Mouse, NHP and Human (Corticity)" (PCI2018-092891). FLAG-ERA Joint Transnational Call.
[2014-2016] “Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience (CCN)” (2014 SGR 856).
[2014-2016] “Integrating Connectomics with Brain Activity Mapping” (PSI2013-42091-P ICoBAM).
[2013-2016] SEMAINE “Simultaneous MEG or fMRI And INtracranial EEG”, EraNet NEURON (PCIN-2013-026).
[2011-2014] "Brain Recovery Group", James McDonnell Foundation (JSMF22002082).
TEACHING
[2018-2022] Audiovisual Perception and Cognition for 2nd year undergraduates in Computer and Audiovisual Systems Engineering, Pompeu Fabra University.
[2022-present] Mathematical models of neural networks in the Master's degree in Advanced Mathematics and Mathematical Engineering, Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
[2022-present] Calculus for 1st year undergraduates in Bioinformatics, Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
[2025-present] Machine-Learning in the Master's degree in Advanced Mathematics and Mathematical Engineering, Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERSHIP
Review Editor on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Neural Circuits
SUPERVISED THESES
[2017-2021] Ane López-González PhD thesis (PhD Program in Biomedicine, UPF), on the study of dynamical and statistical whole-brain models of low-level states of consciousness (date of defense: 06/10/2021).
SELECTED ORAL PRESENTATIONS / ORGANIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC PANELS
[2026] Speaker: 35th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting, CNS 2026, Organization for Computational Neuroscience, Halifax, Canada.
[2025] Speaker: BrainNet Workshop 2025, Stockholm, Sweden, KTH Sweden.
[2023] Speaker: 32nd Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting CNS 2023, Leipzig, Germany, Organization for Computational Neuroscience.
[2023] Speaker: Bernstein Conference 2023, Multimodal understanding of brain and behavior Satellite Workshop, Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany.
[2023] Organizer: Forum for the Computational, Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience Community from Barcelona, BARCCSYN 2023, Barcelona, Spain, Centre de Recerca Matemàtica.
[2022] Speaker: Brain Criticality Hybrid Meeting, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
[2021] Organizer: CNS Workshop on Spatiotemporal Brain State Dynamics and their Impact on Behavior at the 30th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting, online, Organization for Computational Neuroscience.
[2021] Keynote speaker: Forum for the Computational, Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience Community from Barcelona, BARCCSYN 2021, Barcelona, Spain, Centre de Recerca Matemàtica.
[2018] Speaker: Circuits and Behavior in Tuscany 2018, Montecastelli, Italy.
[2016] Speaker: 10th Forum of Neuroscience FENS 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies.
[2014] Speaker: 23rd Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting CNS 2014, Québec City, Canada, Organization for Computational Neuroscience.
COMPUTING LANGUAGES: Matlab, Python, C++.
LANGUAGES: English, French, Spanish.
CV SUMMARY
I was born in Mexico, where I did my primary and secondary education. I studied Physics in France, where I obtained a bachelor and a Master degree in Physics (Paris University XI, France) and a PhD in Neuroscience (Aix-Marseille University, France). From 2011-2022, I was employed as a postdoctoral fellow at the Computational Neuroscience group of the Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC) at the UPF, Barcelona, Spain. I am currently employed as Ramón y Cajal Research fellow at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
I am broadly interested in general principles underlying brain function. My research investigates the representation of cognitive processes in the spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity, the emergence of collective activity through the interactions of neurons or brain regions, and how these collective behaviors relate to brain function and dysfunction.
My approach uses a combination of data analysis and theoretical modeling, by means of stochastic dynamical systems, information theory, statistical physics, machine learning, and graph theory. During my PhD and my research stays (RIKEN Brain Institute, Japan; École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France), I became experienced in several behavioral/experimental methods, such as psychophysics, cellular electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and magnetic resonance. Thus, my research integrates theory, data analysis, and experiments, which, in combination, are increasingly important to understand the nervous system and to develop tools for clinical applications.
I have published 36 peer-reviewed articles (h-index = 23) in top journals such as Neuron, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, PNAS, Science Advances, eLife, Journal of Neuroscience, and Nature Communications Biology, and one book-chapter. My work has received more than 2,000 citations and has been presented in 23 international conferences.
During my academic/scientific career, I have received personal fellowships such as a PhD scholarship from the Mexican Government (2006-2010), and the postdoctoral fellowships Juan de la Cierva (2016-2018) and Ramón y Cajal fellowship (2022-2027). My research career was granted with the Research Accreditation from the Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya (AQU), and the R3 Certificate from Spanish State Research Agency (AEI). I also significantly contributed to several competitive private and public projects, including projects funded by the James McDonnell Foundation, the EU EraNet, FLAG-ERA, and the Human Brain Project. I currently lead a competitive research project “The role of cell types in critical neural activity” (PID2022-137708NB-I00), funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI). In 2025, I was also awarded the Boosting Career Grant from CRM.
Furthermore, I have contributed to the development of The Virtual Brain, an open-source platform for whole-brain simulations constraint by biological connectivity data to test both scientific and clinical questions.
I am regularly invited to present my work as a speaker in international scientific conferences (e.g. CNS 2014, FENS 2016), to review articles for international journals in the field of neuroscience (e.g., PNAS), and to participate in PhD thesis defenses (UPF and Barcelona University). I am Review Editor on the editorial board of Frontiers in Neural Circuits. I organized a workshop at the CNS 2021 conference on Brain States and I was part of the organizing committee of the annual Barcelona Computational, Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience (BARCCSYN) meeting 2023.
Furthermore, I have co-supervised a PhD student (Ane López-González, Biomedicine PhD Program, UPF, 2017-2021). I also have supervised several master’s students at UPC, UPF, and the École Normale Supérieure de Paris. From 2018 to 2022, I taught a course on Audiovisual Perception and Cognition for under-graduates in Engineering (UPF), an introduction to machine-learning algorithms inspired by neural networks. I currently teach courses on Mathematical Models of Neural Networks and on Machine-Learning in the Master's degree in Advanced Mathematics and Mathematical Engineering (UPC) and a course of Calculus for under-graduates in Bioinformatics (UPC).
I am also interested in gender equity in science, as I was part of the Center for Gender Studies (CEdGE) at the UPF from 2015-2022. I have been invited to several round tables on gender equity and equality plans at the UPF and other research institutions in Barcelona.