IE University Research Ecosystem
IE University Research Ecosystem
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IE University's research ecosystem connects faculty working across disciplines, research groups driven by shared questions, alliances that extend the work worldwide, and applied projects where knowledge feeds into practice, challenges it, and at times redirects it.
Research Groups
IE University's research groups bring together faculty and doctoral researchers around shared lines of inquiry, spanning fields from economics and law to environmental technology and artificial intelligence. Each group takes on one of IE University's four research clusters, turning specialized expertise into evidence that shapes real-world decisions and anticipates what comes next.
IE Econ & Finance Research Group
Coordinator: Pedro Gete
Studies how companies, households, markets, and governments make decisions and behave. Research spans macroeconomics, finance, microeconomics, accounting, real estate, labor relations, and quantitative political science, with sustainability as a key focus.
IE Group on Non-Economic Drivers of Entrepreneurship
Coordinator: Julio De Castro
Examines economic and non-economic factors that influence entrepreneurship and business outcomes, including individual characteristics, group-level dynamics, and environmental and contextual conditions across different geographies and income segments.
IE Operations Management Group
Coordinator: Antti Tenhiälä
Advances research on digitalization, sustainability, and resilience across industries including retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and finance. Uses methods spanning econometrics, simulation, machine learning, and optimization to improve decision-making, in close collaboration with industry partners.
IE Research Group for Innovation, Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies
Coordinator: Álvaro Arenas
Examines how AI and emerging technologies reshape organizations and society, focusing on digital platforms, technology for social good, and sustainability. Combines statistical analysis, algorithm development, and real-world experiments in close collaboration with industry.
IE Strategy Group
Coordinator: Daniel Blake
Internationally recognized scholars investigating drivers of firm strategy and its role in shaping organizational performance, and social and environmental outcomes. Research covers corporate strategy, innovation and firm growth, platform ecosystems, digital strategy, non-market strategy, and sustainability.
IE Research Datalab
Coordinator: David Gómez-Ullate
Develops mathematical, statistical, and computational methods for data-driven discovery and intelligent decision-making, spanning artificial intelligence, statistics, and optimization. Applies these methods to challenges in health, climate, energy, and complex systems.
IE Global Public Law Research Group
Coordinator: Fernando Pastor-Merchante
Examines how public law confronts and evolves in response to major societal challenges including AI, digitalization, climate change, rising inequality, and geopolitical shifts. Emphasizes the role of law in safeguarding democracy, human rights, and the rule of law at the international, European, and national levels.
IE Private Law and Market Regulation Research Group
Coordinator: Francisco de Elizalde
Explores the role of law as a driver of innovation and justice in global and digital markets. Research covers contract, tort, property, corporate, labor, competition law, and economic regulation, examining how law responds to economic, technological, and social transformations.
IE Environmental Technology Group
Coordinator: Irene Sánchez-Andrea
Develops science-based solutions to environmental challenges through an interdisciplinary approach spanning microbiology, biotechnology, biogeochemistry, environmental engineering, and remote sensing. Research advances resource recovery, water security, carbon management, and clean technologies.
IE Intelligent Systems Group
Coordinator: Eduardo Castelló Ferrer
Brings together researchers across artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and scientific computing. Work spans human-computer interaction, cryptography, computational biology, and neuroscience, with a focus on building interpretable systems that promote transparency and trust.
IE Transformation by Design Group
Coordinator: Laura Martínez de Guereñu
Investigates how design across the built, visual, and material realms drives transformation, spanning adaptive practices, ecological systems, and material cycles. Brings together diverse perspectives to advance inclusive, sustainable, and regenerative design.
IE Research Group on Political Science and International Relations
Coordinator: Catherine De Vries
Brings together scholars from political science, international relations, law, and economics to examine how democratic institutions remain resilient amid geopolitical fragmentation and technological disruption. Develops evidence-based insights to strengthen governance worldwide.
Research Faculty
IE University's research faculty are intellectual entrepreneurs, scholars who advise institutions, inform policy, and turn today's knowledge into tomorrow's decisions.
Partnerships & Alliances
IE University's research alliances bring cross-border collaboration, shared infrastructure, and multi-institutional projects into its research ecosystem, producing outcomes governments, industry, and institutions can act on.
ESA
New multidisciplinary master's programs in space business, governance, and security come through a partnership with the European Space Agency, supporting joint academic, educational, and outreach activities.
CIVICA
Joint teaching, research, and innovation across social sciences, humanities, and public policy happen through CIVICA, The European University of Social Sciences, a ten-institution alliance spanning Europe.
World Bank Group
Research and training opportunities with the World Bank Group span agreements with the International Finance Corporation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, supporting joint activities in global development.
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
Applied research, professional development, and education opportunities in international trade and public policy come through a longstanding partnership with the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce.
UNESCO
The UNESCO Chair in Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Governance brings dedicated research, teaching, training, and community engagement on AI ethics, created through a formal collaboration agreement with UNESCO.
UNSSC
Practical training and research on sustainable development, built through years of collaboration with the United Nations System Staff College, equips faculty and students to work on global challenges.
Featured Research Reports
IE Competitiveness Hub Brussels
Odysseas Konstantinakos; Tullio Ambrosone · May 2026
From Science to Scale: Completing Europe's Health Innovation Market
Global Policy Center
Luis de Lossada i Gallart, Ilke Toygur, Shairee Malhotra, Feliciano de Sa Guimaraes and Philani Mthembu · November 2025
Strategic Convergence? The Security Partnerships of the European Union and the Global South
Center for the Governance of Change
Miguel Otero-Iglesias and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gordo · February 2026
The Geopolitics of the Digital Revolution: Europe's Defining Test
Alinnea
Ana Belen Sanchez, Bettina Schreck, Gemma Bedia and Patricia Pascau · December 2025
Accelerating the Decarbonization of Industry
IE-Elecnor Knowledge Hub on Ethical Business
Martini Pasquini · March 2026
The Voice of Purpose: ESG Communication, Authenticity, and Corporate Trust
LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession
Antonio Aloisi, Pilar Galeote and Nicolas Parra-Herrera · May 2025
Innovation Beyond Technology: The Crucial Role of Skills in Driving Change in the Legal Profession
ICC, UN & Partners
Paloma Baena Olabe, Jose Carlos Ferrer Avila, Jaime de Aguinaga Garcia, Paloma Duran y Lalaguna and Almudena Veganzones Vera · June 2025
Rethinking Multilateralism: A New Role for the Private Sector
Applied Research
Applied research at IE University covers externally funded work carried out with companies, private foundations, and public bodies, including Horizon Europe and national agencies. The mission is to match faculty interests with funding opportunities, coordinate compliance, and connect IE with the global innovation ecosystem. Affiliated centers and hubs operate at the boundary between research and application.
For Researchers
Financial support, access to hard-to-obtain data, and alignment of research projects with business and societal needs.
For Partners
Access to faculty expertise, research-based co-branding, and connections with an international network of professionals and institutions.
Research Ethics & Governance
Research Ethics & Governance
IE University's research adheres to European regulatory frameworks and institutional policies, covering research integrity, ethics, open access, data protection, and governance.