Àlvar Vinacua has a degree in Mathematics (1981) from the University of Barcelona and a doctoral degree in Applied Mathematics (1986) from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. He has been an associate professor attached to what is currently the Department of Computer Science since 1998 and has taught at the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB), the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB) and the School of Mathematics and Statistics (FME).

He is a member of the Visualisation, Virtual Reality and Graphic Interaction Research Group (ViRVIG). He is the co-author of more than 30 publications in indexed journals, has supervised seven doctoral theses and is the co-author of six patents in exploitation. He has participated in a number of competitively funded and technology transfer projects.