Alberto Ramírez (Andújar, Jaén, Spain, 1981) holds a degree in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Granada (2004) and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Granada (2023). He is currently in charge of the IT Section of IFMIF-DONES.

– QUESTION (Q): His professional career has always been linked to Science: Parque de las Ciencias, Genyo, and currently, IFMIF-DONES. Chance or vocation?

– ANSWER (A): For as long as I can remember, I have been curious to know how things work and to take apart any device that fell into my hands. I didn’t know it then, but it is precisely that curiosity to know the details of how things work that is the spark that, in most cases, awakens a scientific vocation.

I had the opportunity to begin my professional career at the Parque de las Ciencias, participating in my field of activity in setting up its latest and most ambitious extension. Subsequently, I took on the challenge of starting up and managing the Information and Communication Technologies area at the Pfizer-University of Granada-Andalusian Government Centre for Genomics and Oncology Research (GENYO), a benchmark research centre.

For all these reasons, I think that this stage at IFMIF-DONES is an evolution that makes perfect sense in my professional career. It is a project linked to the scientific field that presents me with a professional challenge of very important dimensions.

– Q: Few economic sectors today are unaffected by concepts that are part of your everyday life: Big Data, AI, Machine Learning, Bioinformatics, etc. Without computer scientists, there is no professional paradise?

– A: I have always seen the field of computer science as a transversal discipline. IT professionals have a lot to say in the field of Artificial Intelligence and all the disciplines related to this field. However, the transversality of our profession presents us with the challenge of being able to integrate ourselves into the multidisciplinary environments in which our work is carried out because AI techniques only offer good results on a scientific level if they are approached from a deep and expert knowledge of the field to which they are going to be transferred.

I like to think that our role is necessary but not sufficient because the success of our work depends on our ability to collaborate with professionals from outside our field who complement us and provide an expert perspective on the problem we are trying to solve.

– Q: If fusion energy is a challenge for humanity, what is your challenge at IFMIF-DONES?

– A: In this exciting professional phase of the IFMIF-DONES project, my challenge is to align the IT Section with the project’s strategic objectives so that it is a useful tool for achieving its goals. This objective includes tasks such as deploying and administering the entire IT infrastructure, ensuring the availability and reliability of the IT systems and networks, or managing cybersecurity.

– Q: Which IT engineering tools will need to be further developed for IFMIF-DONES to meet the challenges ahead?

– A: One of the main challenges, from an IT point of view, is the enormous amount of data generated once the plant is in operation. Once the technological difficulties related to the construction of the IFMIF-DONES infrastructure have been overcome, the workflow bottleneck will have much to do with this data, which will be in the order of petabytes (10¹⁵ bytes). The challenge is its storage and subsequent analysis for extracting relevant patterns and knowledge using high-performance computing equipment and big data-related techniques.

Another challenge in my area is related to cybersecurity. Protecting systems and data against intrusion, theft, manipulation, or destruction is just one of the more complex tasks ahead of us.

– Q: Having worked so extensively with scientists throughout your career, what advice would you give to the responsible authorities to promote the attraction and retention of talent?

– A: In my opinion, the main concern of research professionals in our country is related to stability. If a researcher has to constantly worry about funding to pay their salary and that of their closest collaborators, with research projects that have a completion timeframe of just a few years until they obtain a permit, it becomes very difficult for them to dedicate this effort to their research, and this situation also complicates their personal life plans. Once the issue of stability is resolved, we should discuss working conditions and the resources needed to carry out their work, but in my opinion, what researchers need is a stable employment framework that allows them to focus their efforts on their scientific activity.

– Q: What would you highlight about the diverse and growing team that IFMIF-DONES has joined?

– A: If I had to highlight one thing about my colleagues at IFMIF-DONES, it would be their tremendous technical ability, which was also accompanied by comparable human values. In sports, we often see that teams with great individual talent aren’t always the ones that work best as a whole. However, at IFMIF-DONES, there’s a team of highly skilled individuals who have also managed to mesh well together. We face the challenge of continuing to maintain this balance.