MARIA BEGOÑA
ALAEZ ESTEBAN

Begoña Aláez holds a Law degree (Economic specialisation) from the University of Deusto and a Journalism degree from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). She holds the Advanced Studies Diploma (DEA) in Public International Law and International Relations from the doctoral programme Cooperation, Integration and Conflict in Contemporary International Society (UPV/EHU), where she conducted research on the regime of state and individual responsibility for the crime of aggression. She also holds a Master's in Teacher Training (specialisation in Communication Processes and Media), with the research Service-learning and Performing Arts in the Spectacle and Events Management Module of Audiovisual Production and Performing Arts; a Master's in Advanced Theatre Studies (UNIR), with the research Staging Public Discourse: A Spectacle Analysis of the Corporate Launch Event of the iPhone 1; and a Postgraduate Diploma in Risk Management. Her professional career has developed primarily in the fields of institutional relations, public policy, international regulatory standards, European regulation and regulatory affairs. Over more than twenty years she has worked at the intersection of communication, regulation and corporate sustainability, with particular focus on global and European regulatory frameworks and the management of relationships with key stakeholders in the regulatory, supervisory and sustainability spheres. As Manager of Corporate Strategy and Development in the Responsible Banking Unit of Grupo Santander, an area within the Group's Executive Chairman's Office (2018–2022), she coordinated global sustainability initiatives and participated in the development of the Principles for Responsible Banking of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). She also coordinated the response to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) in the year Grupo Santander ranked first among financial institutions worldwide. Previously, as Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs Adviser (2014–2018), she represented Grupo Santander before national and international institutions and bodies, coordinating responses to public consultations by the European Commission, IOSCO, the Basel Committee, ESMA, EIOPA, and the CNMV on matters including corporate governance, sustainability, competition law, consumer protection, digital regulation, and financial markets. She currently combines her teaching role at Universidad Europea de Madrid — where she has taught subjects including Competition Law, Influence and Relational Impact, Ethics and Deontology, Theory of the State and Diplomatic Law — with strategic advisory activities in public discourse, professional communication, and active learning methodologies. She is a member of the research group Innovation in Contemporary International and European Law and supervises Master's dissertations in the Master's in Human Rights. Her main research interests include Public International Law, European Union Law, public policy, global governance, public discourse, institutional communication, and educational innovation.