About Me

Hello! I am Nerea Gallego, a Computer Science PhD Candidate at the University of Zaragoza, currently working within the Robotics, Computer Vision and AI Group (RoPert) supported by a DGA Fellowship.

My research revolves around a central question: How can we help machines understand complex human behaviors using multiple sensors? Specifically, I specialize in multimodal learning, open-vocabulary Vision-Language Models (VLMs), and event-based vision. I am passionate about applying these cutting-edge AI technologies to solve real-world challenges, particularly in the medical field, such as improving patient monitoring in sleep studies through neuromorphic cameras to preserve privacy and work in low-light conditions.

Beyond the code and the lab, I am a strong advocate for making technology accessible. Whether I am co-supervising undergraduate theses, sharing my knowledge as a STEM tutor, or volunteering for the "Girls' Day" to inspire the next generation of women in engineering, I believe that the true power of AI lies in its community and its positive impact on society.

My current focus areas:

  • Multimodal Human Behavior Inference: Understanding social interactions and multi-agent dynamics in videos.
  • Neuromorphic Vision in Healthcare: Developing architectures like EventSleep2 for full-night clinical monitoring.
  • STEM Outreach: Bridging the gap between complex AI concepts and young minds.

Resume

Education

2024 — Now
PhD Candidate - University of Zaragoza
2023 — 2025
Master in Robotics, Graphics and Computer Vision - University of Zaragoza
Master's Thesis: Semantic Recognition of Multi Agent Interactions in Videos.
2019 — 2023
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science - University of Zaragoza
Bachelor's thesis: Patient monitoring in sleep studies with event cameras.

Experience

January 2025 — Present
Predoctoral Researcher (DGA Contract) — RoPert (UNIZAR)
September 2024 — December 2024
Research Assistant (Interaction Detection) — RoPert (UNIZAR)
Researched semantic recognition of multi-agent interactions in video data using Vision-Language Models (VLMs).
February 2024 — September 2024
Research Intern (Human-Centered Vision) — RoPert (UNIZAR)
Developed human-in-the-loop evaluation protocols for a real-time visual feedback system for EEG sensor placement.
February 2023 — June 2023
Research Intern (Sleep Analysis) — RoPert (UNIZAR)
Led the EventSleep architecture development, utilizing event-based vision to solve privacy and low-light challenges in sleep monitoring.
July 2022 - September 2022
Bitbrain
Implemented AI pipelines for Slow-Wave Detection in EEG and collaborated with neurotechnology experts.

Grants & Awards

  • PhD Fellowship (DGA)

    Competitive predoctoral contract awarded by the Government of Aragon to fund PhD research in Computer Vision.

  • Best Bachelor Thesis Award

    Recognized by NTT DATA for excellence in research and technical development within the field of AI.

  • Research Initiation Grant (I3A)

    Early-stage research grant awarded by the Aragon Institute of Engineering Research for academic excellence.

  • Research Initiation Grant (I3A)

    Grant for an initial research stay to develop foundational skills in the Robotics and AI Group.

Languages

Spanish 100%
English 80%

Tech Stack & Expertise

Python PyTorch Computer Vision Machine Learning Event Cameras Robotics

Publications & Projects

TIMID: Time-Dependent Mistake Detection in Videos of Robot Executions

Under review | 2026

Nerea Gallego*, Fernando Salanova*, Claudio Mannarano, Cristian Mahulea, Eduardo Montijano

TIMID Teaser

Introduced a novel framework for identifying temporal mistakes in robotic tasks. By leveraging time-dependent analysis, we achieved high-precision detection of execution errors that traditional frame-by-frame models often overlook.

Paper Project Website

EventSleep2: Sleep activity recognition on complete night sleep recordings with an event cameras

CVIU | 2025

Nerea Gallego*, Carlos Plou*, Miguel Marcos, Pablo Urcola, Luis Montesano, Eduardo Montijano, Ruben Martinez-Cantin, Ana C. Murillo

EventSleep2 Teaser

Introduced an advanced neuromorphic architecture designed for long-term temporal consistency in event-based vision. Managed the acquisition and processing of full-night clinical datasets, overcoming data dimensionality challenges to enable open-vocabulary sleep activity recognition.

Paper Project Website

Vision-based feedback on correct sensor placement in medical studies

ROBOT | 2024

Nerea Gallego, Carlos Plou, Luis Montesano, Ana C. Murillo, Eduardo Montijano

ROBOT 2024 Teaser

Developed a real-time visual feedback system to assist in the precise placement of EEG sensors. Designed human-in-the-loop protocols and executed multi-subject data collection to ensure system robustness across different physiological profiles.

Paper Project Website

EventSleep: Sleep activity recognition with event cameras

ECCV Workshop | 2024

Carlos Plou, Nerea Gallego, Alberto Sabater, Eduardo Montijano, Pablo Urcola, Luis Montesano, Ruben Martinez-Cantin, Ana C. Murillo

EventSleep Teaser

Introduced the first EventSleep architecture for sleep monitoring using neuromorphic vision. Created a novel, high-dimensionality event dataset to address the limitations of traditional cameras in low-light and privacy-sensitive clinical environments.

Paper Project Website

Contact

Feel free to reach out to me via email or connect with me on professional networks.

Email: ngallego@unizar.es

GitHub: github.com/ngallego

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nerea-gallego