Dr. Bárbara Castillo Abdul

She holds two doctorates: a PhD Cum Laude in Communication (University of Huelva, with International Mention) and in Social and Legal Sciences (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos). Castillo Abdul is a leading academic in the critical analysis of digital communication, technological transformations and media literacy, from an ethical and civic perspective. Professor and Senior Researcher at the University of Design, Innovation and Technology (UDIT), she leads the Research Group on Innovation and Digital Transformation of Communication (GITDCom). Accredited by ANECA, she has developed undergraduate and postgraduate teaching activities in universities in Spain, Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela, articulating educational innovation with applied research. Her professional career includes experience in the sectors of journalism, corporate communication, public relations and digital marketing, in public and private organisations in Latin America and Europe. This dual vision - academic and professional - translates into teaching that is connected to the real challenges of the contemporary communication ecosystem. His lines of research address the digital transformation of consumers and brands in post-media communication environments. She critically analyses branded content, influencer marketing and new digital public relations strategies, with an emphasis on brand narratives, online reputation and engagement. She studies phenomena such as apomediation, disinformation and algorithmic regulation, within a framework of critical media literacy oriented towards citizen empowerment, social innovation and technological responsibility. She has published more than thirty articles in top-level JCR and Scopus indexed journals, three books as main editor and more than twenty chapters in prestigious academic publishers. She is the author of the MOOC "Comunicación Estratégica: Haz tu propio Plan de Comunicación", developed at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and available on open platforms since 2022, with more than 25,000 participants internationally. Among her most outstanding contributions is her participation in the Binational Laboratory for Energy Sustainability (UC Berkeley - TEC de Monterrey), where she developed dissemination strategies for MOOCs that reached more than 1.7 million people. This initiative was awarded the international prizes "Open Innovation" and "Open Research" for its innovation and social value. In recognition of her scientific work, she received the Best Paper in the Corporate Social Responsibility category at the International Congress on Public and Nonprofit Marketing (2021) and the award for scientific dissemination "Tell me 11F" (2024), for her contribution to communication with a gender perspective. She is deputy editor of Index.Comunicación (Scopus Q1), secretary of the Ibero-American Teaching Innovation Association (IDI), coordinator of academic collections indexed in SPI and member of scientific networks such as ALFAMED, IAMCR, AE-IC, ECREA and the UNESCO MIL Alliance. Her commitment to knowledge transfer is also reflected in her active presence in media such as The Conversation, RTVE or La Vanguardia, where she collaborates as an expert disseminator on issues of digital citizenship, childhood and media influence.