Prof.Alvaro Collar is a professor in Film and Digital Media with more than fifteen years of international teaching experience at institutions across China, Kuwait, Spain, and the UK, and over two decades of professional practice as a filmmaker and video artist. He holds a Ph.D. in Film Analysis, Criticism, and Documentation (2016) and a Bachelor's degree in Media Studies (2006) from the Complutense University of Madrid, complemented with specialised courses at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2020), Michigan State University (2021), California Institute of the Arts (2019), and professional training at Spanish Radio and Television Corporation RTVE (2025) and Brighton Film School (2008). He is a certified instructor for Avid Media Composer (2024), DaVinci Resolve (2021), and Wwise (2017).

As Dean of the School of Cultural Technology at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (2022-2025), he repositioned the school as a hub for cultural and creative industries, establishing the Cultural Technology Alliance and developing more than 20 strategic partnerships with institutions including Modern Art Museum Shanghai, Wenwu China, and 56 Culture & Creative Park. Under his leadership, the school achieved a 98% graduate progression rate, with 80% acceptance to top 100 institutions including Imperial College London and Goldsmiths. His support promoted substantial increases in faculty output, including participations at Ars Electronica, the Shanghai Biennale, SEAMUS, and DiGRA.

As an experimental filmmaker, Collar's practice explores post-hyperrealistic aesthetics through emerging technologies including VR and AI. His work has been exhibited at Loop Barcelona, FILE São Paulo, dokumentArt, Medialab Madrid, and over 50 festivals internationally, with recent selections at TheWrong Biennale, Videoformes, and New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Notable collaborations include the multi-artist installation Interwoven Existence, selected for Ars Electronica (Austria, 2024), the world's largest electronic arts festival. He is the founding director of Interplay, a biennial experimental showcase in collaboration with Taicang Art Museum, H+ Gallery, Fishtank Art Gallery, and EDCC Suzhou Bay Digital Museum.

As Executive Dean of Stirling College at Chengdu University, he leads interdisciplinary programmes guided by three transitions: from teaching to ecosystem, from international to intercultural, and from instruction to innovation.