Xavier Serra is a Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where he leads the Music Technology Group within the Department of Information and Communication Technologies. He earned his PhD in Computer Music from Stanford University in 1989, focusing on spectral processing of musical sounds, a foundational work in the field. His research spans computational analysis, description, and synthesis of sound and music signals, blending scientific and artistic disciplines. Dr. Serra is very active in the fields of Audio Signal Processing, Sound and Music Computing, Music Information Retrieval and Computational Musicology at the local and international levels, being involved in the editorial board of several journals and conferences and giving lectures on current and future challenges of these fields. He received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council for the CompMusic project, promoting multicultural approaches in music information research. Currently, he directs the UPF-BMAT Chair on AI and Music, dedicated to fostering Ethical AI initiatives that can empower the music sector.
Education
1989 PhD in Computer Music, Stanford University, USA.
1983 Master in Music, Florida State University, USA.
1981 Bachelor in Biology, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
Employment history
2017-now Full Professor (Catedrático) at UPF.
1996-2017 Associate Professor (Profesor Titular) at UPF.
1995-1996 Visiting Professor (Profesor Visitante) at UPF.
1991-1994 Post-doc at Phonos Foundation.
1989-1991 Chief Engineer at Yamaha Music Technologies USA, Inc.
Current professional responsibilities at UPF
2023 - Director of the UPF-BMAT Chair on AI and Music.
1994 - Founder and Director of Music Technology Group (MTG).
2008 - Coordinator of the Master in Sound and Music Computing of DTIC.
2008 - Member of the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Commission of DTIC.
2018 - Member of the Faculty Commission of UPF.
Other current professional responsibilities
2017 - Co-founder of Music Muni Labs.
2011 - President of Phonos Foundation.
2008 - Member of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval.
1999 - Member of the editorial board of the Journal of New Music Research.
2008 - Member of the Scientific Committee of the Sound and Music Computing Conference.
1998 - Member of the Scientific Committee of the Digital Audio Effects Conference.
2013 - Member of the International Advisory Council of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) of McGill University (Montreal, Canada).
Distinctions and awards
2019 ICREA Academia Prize. Generalitat de Catalunya.
2018 Google Research Award for Freesound Datasets.
2017 Proof of Concept Grant for TECSOME. European Research Council.
2016 “Teaching activity at Master level” Prize given by UPF Board of Trustees.
2016 Best paper award at 6th International Workshop Folk Music Analysis.
2017 Proof of Concept Grant for CAMUT. European Research Council.
2013 Best paper award at 14th International Workshop on Content-based Multimedia Indexing.
2013 ICREA Academia Prize. Generalitat de Catalunya.
2010 Advanced Grant for CompMusic. European Research Council.
2009 Google Research Award for Freesound.
2008 ICREA Academia Prize. Generalitat de Catalunya.
Publications and other activities
Web of the UPF on scientific production
