The Research Group on Technology (GRET) was created in 2021 with the aim of promoting research in the technological field, particularly in the areas of information security, privacy, Blockchain technology, Serious Games, and more recently, large language models (LLM) and artificial intelligence applied to education.
This research group gathers the legacy of the Educational Technology Applied to Teaching (Editad) team, which operated between 2016 and 2019 with the aim of integrating technology as a methodological tool for teaching at all levels.
Lines of research:
- Biometrics and Security
- Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts applied to Self-Sovereign identities
- Teaching through technology and Serious Games
- Data privacy
- Large language models applied to education
Manager

Aleix Dorca Josa
PhD in Biometrics and Computer Security, MSc in Open Source Software, MSc in Computer Security, MSc en Computer Science, BSc in Computer Science, BSc in Telematics.
Contact: Google Scholar, ResearchGate
Collaborators

Jordi Herrera Joancomartí
MSc in Mathematics from UAB and PhD in Mathematics from UPC. Associate Professor in the Enginyeria de la Informació i les Comunicacions department at UAB.
Contact: Google Scholar
PhD Students

Francesc Garcia Grau
MSc in Computer Science, International MSc in IT Security (MISTIC).
Contact: ResearchGate

Jan Sau Batlle
BSc in Computer Science. MSc in Computer Games Design, MSc in Education and IT. Experience in videogames and Serious Games development.

PROJECT 1. Linkable anonymous credentials: how to apply self-managed identity to electronic voting with Blockchain and Smart Contracts.
Anonymous attribute-based credentials (ABC) provide the means for the implementation of self-managed identities (SSI) that transfer responsibility for the custody of personal data to the user, and allow them to have control over who, where and when they want to share such data.
Electronic voting systems suffer from a lack of transparency and the need for anonymity. Transparency is achieved with the use of Blockchain and Smart Contracts, but anonymity becomes a matter of trust. Self-managed identities guarantee this need for anonymity, but to a superlative degree, since it is not possible to link different presentations of the same attribute, and therefore does not apply to electronic voting.
Objective:
This project seeks to be able to give an individual the right to do something, preserving their privacy and once this right has been given, eliminate the need for trusted third parties, although ensuring that they can only exercise this right only once.
Thus, the concept of anonymous attributes linkable within the ABC is defined, which guarantee the anonymity and ownership of being unique within a given scope, making these attributes linkable and can be used in electronic voting, preserving anonymity and the property of being unique, even before a malicious user or a collusion between different actors.
As a result of this research, we want to achieve a protocol that ensures anonymity, that is, it is not possible to know who is behind given credentials, but that at the same time these credentials are unique within a given field to be able to detect the repeated use of these credentials. At the same time it is desired to be able to control the number of times that this repeated use can be carried out.
This protocol aims to demonstrate that it is possible to apply it to remote electronic voting based on Blockchain and Smart Contracts.
Actions already carried out:
- Study and design of the theoretical framework
- The first article on Anonymous Non-Reusable Credentials has been published in the indexed journal MDPI Mathematics: Attribute Based Pseudonyms: Anonymous and Linkable Scoped Credentials.
- A second article on Non-Reusable Anonymous Credentials and their real-world application is in the works.
PROJECT 2. Application of Serious Games in education at the UdA.
Objectives:
- Identify and study the use of technology associated with energy saving as a sustainability objective, with the aim of a proposal for the implementation of a serious game.
- Design a serious game and evaluate its feasibility in bringing it into the classrooms at the UdA.
- Carry out a pre and post data collection in the classrooms where it has been implemented.
- Compare the qualitative data obtained, in order to confirm or deny the hypothesis that Serious Games improve the teaching of sustainability objectives, especially those related to energy saving.
Actions already carried out:
- Study and design of the theoretical framework
- Development of the serious Game to be evaluated in the classrooms.
PROJECT 3. Influence of Large Language Models on Critical thinking of university students.
In recent years, large language models (LLM) based on artificial inteligence have experienced significant advances, and their potential to improve learning, teaching and communication in the academic environment has been acknowledged. Critical thinking in the academic field is a relevant topic, especially in the digital age in which we live. It is for this reason that it is considered important to analyze the contribution of language models in students’ critical thinking.
Objectives:
- Design instruments for the analysis of the use of large language models.
- Assess whether these tools encourage students’ critical thinking.
- Design strategies and tools to improve educational content while adapting to these new tools.
Actions developed:
- Design of a validated instrument for the evaluation of the current use of large language models at the University of Andorra.
Doctoral Theses:
- Identifying users using Keystroke Dynamics and contextual information (05-02-2018), Dorca Josa, Aleix
Conferences, congresses, articles and books
2021:
- Garcia Grau, F. (2021). Credencials anònimes enllaçables: com aplicar la identitat autogestionada a les votacions electròniques amb Blockchain i Smart Contracts. 14ns Debats de recerca: Noves Tecnologies i la Investigació científica. 18 i 19 d’octubre, 2021, Andorra.
2020:
- Yáñez, C. & Dorca, A. (2020). Impacte de la COVID-19 sobre el sector cultural i creatiu d’Andorra. Inf. tèc. GRIE, Universitat d’Andorra, 2020.
2019:
- Mariño-Mesías, R.M., Sabrià-Bernadó, B., Fortó-Areny, J., & Dorca-Josa, A. (2019, November). Study of Customer Satisfaction with The Hotel Sector of The Principality of Andorra Based on The Reviews on Booking. XI International Tourism Congress (ITC), Madeira. This paper was granted an Honorable Mention.
- Dorca-Josa, A., Mariño-Mesías, R.M., Fortó-Areny, J., & Sabrià-Bernadó, B. (2019, October). Analysis of customer satisfaction with the Andorran hotel sector. 5th International Tourism and Hospitality Management Conference (ITHMC), Sarajevo.
2017:
- Dorca-Josa, A., Morán-Moreno, J. A., & Santamaría-Pérez, E. (2017). Using Keystroke Dynamics and context features to assess authorship in online learning environments.
- Dorca-Josa, A., Morán-Moreno, J. A., & Santamaría-Pérez, E. (2017). Identificacion de usuarios mediante dinámica de tecleo en entornos de entrada libre usando informacion de contexto. INTED2017 Proceedings, pp. 3167-3176.
- Dorca-Josa, A., Yáñez-Aldecoa, C., Macià, N., & Llorente-Vaquero, V. (2017). Aprèn amb Pitavola: A Contemporaty After-Scholl Program for Awakening STEM Skills. EDULEARN17 Proceedings, pp. 1585-1592.