Rector
He was born in Aveiro in 1956, the city where he received his basic, secondary and university education.
At the University of Aveiro he completed a degree in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering in 1979, a PhD in Electrical Engineering/Telecommunications Systems in 1992, and took his aggregate exams in Communication and Art/Multimedia Communication Systems in 2001.
After completing his degree, he worked in engineering at Datamatic-Aplicações de Informática Lda (Braga, 1979-1981) and Renault Portuguesa SA (Aveiro, 1981-1982).
He began his career as a university lecturer at the University of Aveiro in 1982, working in the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications as a Trainee Assistant (1982-1985), Assistant (1985-1992), Assistant Professor (1992-1998) and Associate Professor (1998-2000). In 2000 he was invited by the then Rector, Professor Júlio Pedrosa, to take up a post in the Department of Communication and Art (area of Communication Sciences and Technologies), where he was Associate Professor (2000-2001), Associate Professor with Aggregation (2001-2003) and Full Professor (2003-2021), having been Invited Full Professor since September 2021.
Throughout his academic career, he has held a wide range of management positions at the University of Aveiro, namely: Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (1994-1999), Director of the Department of Communication and Art (2001-2005), Director of CEMED-Multimedia Center and Distance Education (1999-2010), Chairman of the Executive Committee of UNAVE (2004-2014), Scientific Coordinator of CETAC. MEDIA-Center for Studies in Communication Sciences and Technologies (2008-2012), Scientific Coordinator of the AlticeLabs@UA Laboratory (2017-2021), Scientific Coordinator of the DigiMedia-Digital Media and Interaction Research Center (2015-2020). He was Director of the PhD Program in New Media (2020-2021), Director of the PhD Program in Information and Communication on Digital Platforms (2008-2014), a joint program between the Universities of Aveiro and Porto, and Vice-Director of the PhD in Multimedia in Education at the University of Aveiro (2008-2014).
He has taught courses in the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications, the Bachelor’s degree in New Communication Technologies, the Master’s degree in Multimedia Communication, and the doctoral programs in Information and Communication in Digital Platforms and Multimedia in Education. He has supervised 12 post-doctoral internships, 18 PhD students in Information and Communication in Digital Platforms and Multimedia in Education, and more than 40 Master’s students in Electronics and Telecommunications and Multimedia Communication.
In terms of scientific research, he has been the coordinator and researcher on more than 30 R&D projects in the areas of Multimedia Communication Systems, eLearning and Distance Education, and Digital Media in Territorial Innovation, with funding from FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, FCG-Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, PT-Portugal Telecom, AlticeLabs, CCDRC/PT 2020, European Commission (Transports, Telematics, eHealth programs). He was chairman of the organizing committee of several national and international scientific conferences and events (INDC’98, eLES’04, IV SOPCOM 2005, TRACER 2014, InternetDay 2017, SLERD’2017), member of the Scientific Committee of a large number of international conferences, including: CHALLENGES, CeNTER, CISCI, CINDU, CISTI, CSEDU, EJML, iLRN, SIIE, SLERD, TALE, TicEDUCA. He is a member of the editorial/review board of several scientific journals, including: COMUNICAR, COGENT, EKS, IJEDICT, IxD&A, JDMI, OBS, OPEN PRAXIS, Studies in HE, WJE. He is the author/co-author of more than 250 scientific publications, including books, book chapters, journal articles and papers in peer-reviewed conference proceedings.
He has always collaborated intensively in activities within the national and international academic community, namely: international consultant in the areas of Digital Media, eLearning, Distance Education for international and national organizations: European Commission, EACEA-European Agency for Culture, Education and Audiovisual (ERASMUS Program), AfDB-African Development Bank, Portuguese Ministries of Economy and Industry, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, University of Cape Verde, Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), Agostinho Neto University (Angola), National University of Timor Lorosa’e, Botho University (Botswana), INED-National Institute for Distance Education (Mozambique), ISCED-Superior Institute for Distance Education (Mozambique). He has been a member of several evaluation panels for national and international R&D projects and academic grants: European Commission (e-Health, Transports, Telematics programs), EACEA (Erasmus Mundus), COST, FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Ministry of Industry, IPQ-Portuguese Quality Institute. He coordinated the team of specialists from various scientific areas set up by CRUP to support the reorganization of the National University of Timor Lorosa’e (2012-2014). He chaired the Commission for Distance Learning of A3ES-Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (2020-2021).
He was Portugal’s representative on IFIP TC3-Education (1998-2008), Portuguese contact point for IOSCL-International Observatory on Smart Cities Learning (2013-2015), member of the Executive Committee of ASLERD-Association for Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Development (2015-2017).
