Guillermo Cisneros Pérez

Rector Emeritus · Polytechnic University of Madrid

Innovation, research, and teaching

120+

Articles in journals and conferences

60+

National and international projects

9

Supervised doctoral theses

~40

Supervised FDP and MP

Biography Career Research Speech Publications Honors

Guillermo Cisneros Pérez (Madrid, 1960) is a Full Professor, Telecommunications Engineer since 1983, and holds a PhD in Telecommunications Engineering with honors since 1986, both from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM). He began at UPM as a Physics professor and later taught Telecommunications Systems, Multimedia Systems, Remote Sensing, and Computer Graphics. He worked at Telefónica Spain in technical, management, and international roles related to applied research and mobile communications. He served as Spain’s representative in several international organizations, including the IWP (Interim Working Party) 11/4 of the former CCIR (now ITU-R, International Telecommunication Union – Radio), ETSI-GSM (European Telecommunications Standards Institute – Global System for Mobile Communications), and CEPT-MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the implementation of GSM services.

He has actively participated in European projects with major leadership responsibilities in areas such as Networked Electronic Media, Digital Television and the Continuous Audiovisual Market, Ubiquitous Broadcast and Interactive Services, Systems and Services for Humanities and Tele-education applications, and the Future Internet. He has also acted as an expert evaluator and technical auditor for projects of the European Commission, as well as National Program projects. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the European Technology Platform NEM (Networked Electronic Media) and Vice President of the Spanish Technology Platforms for Networked Electronic Media and the Future Internet.

His research activities include participation in more than twenty international research projects (mainly European Commission programs) and forty national research projects, serving as Project Director or Principal Investigator in more than ten international and twenty national projects. He has published more than 120 journal and conference papers, over seventy of which were presented at international conferences.

He served as Dean of the School of Telecommunications Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid, implementing the adaptations required for the European Higher Education Area and pioneering the international ABET-EAC (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology – Engineering Accreditation Commission) accreditation process for the Telecommunications Engineering degree as an MSc (Master of Science). He also served as President of the Spanish Conference of Deans of Telecommunications Engineering Schools. During this period, he represented ANECA in a pilot project for the International Accreditation of Telecommunications Engineering studies at the European level.

He later became Director General of the Foundation for the International Projection of Spanish Universities (Universidad.es), whose Board of Trustees included senior representatives from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, as well as institutions such as the Instituto Cervantes.

Since April 2016, he served as Rector of the Technical University of Madrid and, since 2025, he has held the title of Rector Emeritus of the same institution.

SELECTED HONORS

2026

Honorary Doctorate · National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest

2025

Rector Emeritus · Technical University of Madrid

2020

Grand Cross of Aeronautical Merit · Spanish Air and Space Force

2018

Agustín de Betancourt Medal (Russian Federation) · Honorary Doctorate (International Engineering University of Peru) · Honorary Professor (Autonomous University of Peru)

2014

DINTEL Foundation Award for “Personal Perseverance” · Category: Promotion and international prestige of the Spain Brand in Education, for his contribution to the internationalization of the Spanish university system · As Director General of Universidad.es Foundation

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

«Universidades Europeas (I). Un gran proyecto por concretar»

April 2026 · First installment of a series (next part forthcoming)

«Sellos y certificaciones [internacionales] de calidad, ¿herramientas de internacionalización o herramientas de marketing?»

Decembre 2025

Since February 2026
President of the Certification Board
Fundación para el Conocimiento Madri+d

Responsible for awarding the international ENAEE EUR-ACE label, in agreement with the IIE, to degree programs at universities in Spain and Latin America, including programs participating in the Alliances of the European Universities Initiative of the European Commission.
Since 2025
Rector Emeritus
Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM)
Until the end of 2025
Ad-personam Member of the Steering Committee
CESAER Association (strong and united voice of universities of science and technology in Europe)
April 2016 – January 2025
Rector
Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM)

President of the Governing Committee of the EELISA Alliance (ten universities), created and funded under the European Universities Initiative of the European Commission. He promoted the so-called PARS — Sequential Academic Pathway Programs (Royal Decree 822/2021) — together with CRUE and the Ministry, restoring the names of traditional engineering degrees through a consecutive double-degree structure (bachelor’s and master’s degrees).
2013 – 2014
Director General
Universidad.es Foundation · Spanish General State Administration

Mission: to promote the Spanish University System abroad, in partnership with ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones in order to strengthen the Spain brand (University + Business) across all sectors. Its Board of Trustees included senior representatives from the Ministries of Education, Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and Economy and Competitiveness, as well as the Instituto Cervantes. Together with the Director of ANECA and the Ministry of Education, he promoted institutional accreditation for university centers in Spain.
2004 – 2013
Dean of the ETSIT
Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación · UPM

He implemented the adaptation to the European Higher Education Area. He was a pioneer in obtaining international ABET-EAC (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology – Engineering Accreditation Commission) accreditation as an MSc (Master of Science) for the Telecommunications Engineering degree. He also served as President of CODITEL (Spanish Conference of Deans of Telecommunications Engineering Schools) and represented ANECA in a pilot project for the international accreditation of Telecommunications Engineering studies at the European level.
Academic Career · UPM
Full Professor
Polytechnic University of Madrid

Telecommunications Engineer (1983, UPM) and PhD in Telecommunications Engineering with honors (1986, UPM). Professor of Physics, Telecommunications Systems, Multimedia Systems, Remote Sensing, and Computer Graphics.
Telefónica Spain
Researcher and Executive
Technical, management, and international roles in applied research and mobile communications.

Spanish representative at the IWP (Interim Working Party) 11/4 of the former CCIR (now ITU-R, International Telecommunication Union – Radio), ETSI-GSM (European Telecommunications Standards Institute – Global System for Mobile Communications), and the CEPT-MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the implementation of GSM services.

Participation in more than twenty international research projects (mainly within European Commission programs, beginning with ESPRIT and RACE) and more than forty national research projects. Project Director or Principal Investigator in more than ten international projects and twenty national projects. Member of the Steering Committee of the European Technology Platform NEM (Networked Electronic Media) and Vice President of the Spanish Technology Platforms for NEM and the Future Internet. Expert evaluator and auditor for projects funded by the European Commission and National Programs.

EUROPEAN PROJECTS FIELDS

Networked Electronic Media

Digital Television and the Continuous Audiovisual Market

Ubiquitous Broadcast and Interactive Services

Humanities and Tele-education

Future Internet

ESPRIT / RACE

SELECTED RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS

Introduction of the Internet and the Web in Museums

Remote access to networked museum databases (1992–1995), one of the pioneering applications in Spain.

Audiovisual Content Brokerage

Concept and pilot development of a brokerage system for audiovisual services (1999–2000).

Quality of Experience (QoE)

Early development of the QoE concept in audiovisual services (1986–1987), before the terminology became widely established.

Image Restoration

Novel solutions reducing sensitivity to the estimations required in the restoration process.

Scene Change Detection in Video

Applying distance metrics in metric spaces to video sequences.

Remote Sensing

Creation of the spectral pattern for continuous spatial variation.

Audience Measurement and Content Adaptation

Adaptation of content to estimated user preferences.

Accessibility in Connected TV

Development of new accessibility services for connected television environments.

More than 70 contributions to International Conferences, out of a total of more than 120 journal and conference publications. Holder of a utility model and several patents, one of which has been commercially exploited internationally (system and method for transmitting personalized content in audiovisual services). He has supervised nine doctoral theses and approximately forty final degree and master’s projects.

Guillermo Cisneros Pérez argues that the classical functions of the University should be defined in a different order from the usual one, at least from the perspective of engineering aimed at generating positive impact and progress in society:

1
Innovation
Applying existing knowledge to solve new problems posed by society and industry.
2
Research
Creating new knowledge when existing knowledge is insufficient to solve the project.
3
Education
Excellence-driven education, resulting from staying at the forefront of innovation and research together with companies across all sectors.
4
Employability and Entrepreneurship
A product of that excellence in education, which in turn reconnects with innovation, creating a virtuous cycle.

In this latest stage of his career, Guillermo Cisneros publishes articles that project his accumulated experience onto current issues and challenges: