MediaLab Researcher, Dr. Carlos Maciá Barber, Promoted to Full Professor at UC3M

The MediaLab research group is pleased to congratulate one her senior members, Dr. Carlos Maciá Barber on his promotion to full professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), awarded on 16 March 2026 following a presentation before a panel of evaluators in which he outlined his career trajectory and academic accomplishments. The promotion recognises a distinguished academic journey that began with an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1996 and a doctoral degree from the San Pablo–CEU University in 2001, where his pioneering thesis on the figure of the press ombudsman earned the Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis from the Faculty of Humanities and Communication Sciences.

Dr. Maciá Barber's research spans three interconnected areas: the analysis of journalistic genres (news reporting, in-depth features, chronicles, and interviews), media ethics and deontology, and the public understanding of science. This interdisciplinary profile has led him to investigate topics ranging from gender and health in media ethics to the history and archaeology of science communication. He is currently leading the Strategic Research Action "Journalism, Ethics and Fundamental Rights" (2024–2030), and has previously served as Principal Researcher on two nationally funded R&D projects examining ethical practices in journalism, supported by Spain's Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

Beyond the university, Dr. Maciá Barber has made substantial national and international contributions to social science scholarship where he serves as a reviewer of research projects in for evaluation agencies in three countries: Spain's National Agency for Evaluation and Prospective (ANEP), Uruguay's National Agency for Research and Innovation, and Poland's Narodowe Centrum Nauki. At UC3M, he served as Vice Dean of the Degree in Journalism and the Double Degree in Journalism-Humanities for a decade (2013–2023) and as Deputy Director of the Department of Communication from 2012 to 2018. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a journalist at the newspaper El Mundo and at the State Corporation Lisboa'98.

As a member of the UC3M MediaLab group, Dr. Maciá Barber brings a rigorous, ethics-centred perspective to the group's collaborative work. He is also affiliated with the Julio Caro Baroja Institute of Historiography at UC3M and the Spanish Association of Communication Researchers (AE-IC). The entire MediaLab team extends its warmest congratulations to Carlos on this well-deserved recognition of a career dedicated to advancing journalism scholarship and academic excellence.