Isabel Villanueva Benito holds a PhD in Communication from UIC Barcelona and has successfully balanced her academic career with a highly active professional life. Dr Villanueva’s appointment reflects the Faculty’s commitment to the creative and cultural industries, following the University's signing of a cooperation agreement with the international music event BIME, which she has directed since 2024.

“We want the music industry to benefit from working with academics, and for universities to become involved in the study of music in areas that until now have been handled exclusively by the sector itself, either due to access to data or because this culture did not previously exist,” explained the new dean. “Our mission is to position UIC Barcelona and research, opening up a new pathway of knowledge that is in high demand in many places around the world within the cultural sector,” Dr Villanueva stressed. In 2025, UIC Barcelona organised the 1st International Research Conference on Creative Industries, the second edition of which is scheduled to take place in Bilbao in 2026.

Isabel Villanueva wished to thank the outgoing team and dean, Dr Pedro Sigaud, for his efforts to provide students training in emerging technologies. “The Faculty aims to train our students and teaching staff in the ethical and constructive use of technology, as the emergence of AI will fundamentally transform the way future communication professionals work,” she noted. “Something AI will not replace, however, is the process of knowledge creation, nor the generation of emotions; the experiential value of communication is fundamental,” she argued.

Isabel Villanueva expressed optimism about the career prospects of future communication professionals. “The new generations hold the key, if they have adequate training. We in the Faculty will offer them our support, with a strong focus on their humanistic and ethical vision, equipping them with more comprehensive tools, greater knowledge and a critical perspective,” she explained. The holder of a PhD in Communication favours an international curriculum, with a course selection that integrates emerging technologies and focused tracks, such as the new specialisations in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication.

Closely connected to UIC Barcelona for more than 18 years, Villanueva earned her PhD at the University researching strategies for attracting new audiences to classical music. Her career gained momentum thanks to a Fulbright scholarship at UCLA in the United States. The teacher and researcher has developed artistic and musical projects for some of the world's foremost musical enterprises, including Sony Music, Universal and Warner Music. Since 2024, she has served as a board member of the Navarra Council for Culture and the Arts, an advisory body to the Government of Navarra. She has been the general director of BIME since 2025, the premier music industry event between the European and Latin American markets, with representation from 42 countries.