The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities has asked the Spanish Research Ethics Committee for a report on the research activity carried out by the new rector of the University of Salamanca, professor of computer science and artificial intelligence Juan Manuel Corchado.
Ministry sources told EFE that the report was requested on May 3 by the administration headed by Diana Morant, “before Corchado was elected dean of the University of Salamanca.”
The Spanish Research Ethics Committee is an independent advisory body created in November 2023 to ensure responsible science and the integrity of its professionals.
This body, made up of ten experts in bioethics, law and artificial intelligence, is examining, among other things, whether Juan Manuel Corchado, in his work as a researcher, is capable of violating the rules of good practice in science and research.
The same sources pointed out that “the Ministry cannot do anything unless there is a report on the table,” and upon completion of it, the Ministry will “evaluate the situation.”
In recent days, several media outlets have published reports on alleged wrongdoings committed by Corchado to amplify the impact of his investigations and thus improve his CV.
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Corchado is scheduled to take over as rector of the University of Salamanca on May 31 for a single term of six years.
Corchado was elected rector of the University of Salamanca on May 7 with 61.07% of the vote in the election in which he was the only candidate.
When the result was announced on Election Day, Corchado noted that his candidacy received 32.5% of the blank votes, something he said was expected.
This replacement comes after the unexpected resignation of Ricardo Rivero on March 7, who thus cut short a second term that ended at the end of 2025, citing “the university’s administrative organization” reasons for taking that step.
Corchado immediately announced his candidacy after Rivero’s resignation, while electronics professor Susana Pérez finally decided not to run due to the urgency of the election call, which in her opinion “adds some doubts and ambiguity” to the process.
Juan Manuel Corchado is a professor of computer science and artificial intelligence at the University of Salamanca (USAL).
From 2013 to 2017, he served as Vice President for Research and Director of the USAL Science Park.
He has been twice elected Dean of the Faculty of Science and directs the Group Recognized Research (GIR) for Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology (BISITE), which he promoted in 2000.
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