Profile

He is a retired Full Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto (FLUP). He holds a degree in Historical and Philosophical Sciences (1961) from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon (FLUL), with a dissertation titled Introduction to the History of Liberalism in Portugal. He earned a PhD in History – Modern and Contemporary History from FLUP in 1972, with the thesis Cardinal Saraiva.

He taught at FLUL (1961-1963) and FLUP (1963-2002) and was a visiting professor at various institutions, including the Portucalense University and the Portuguese Catholic University, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences in Braga (2003-2006). He was also an Invited Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris (1987).

He has supervised dozens of master’s dissertations and doctoral theses at the Universities of Porto, Lisbon, NOVA University of Lisbon, Minho, Portucalense, and the Azores.

Academic and Administrative Roles: President of the Scientific Council of FLUP; Member of the Senate and Rector of the University of Porto (1982-1985); Member of the Cultural Council of the University of Minho; Proposed and negotiated the creation of the Association of Portuguese Language Universities; President of the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (1983-1985); Board Member of the Council of European Rectors (1985-1989); Coordinator of the Centre for Studies on Northern Portugal – Aquitaine (1980-2002); President of the Scientific Council of the National Commission for the Commemorations of Portuguese Discoveries (1999-2002).

Honours and Awards:Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bordeaux III (1984); Grand Cross of the Order of Public Instruction (1988); Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique (1995).

He has published over 150 historical research works, including: O Cardeal Saraiva, Porto, 1972; Da Ilustração ao Liberalismo: Temas Históricos, Porto, 1979; O Porto e as Origens do Liberalismo: Subsídios e Observações, Porto, 1979; Sob o Signo das “Luzes”, Lisbon, 1988; História do Porto (editor), Porto, 1994; D. Pedro, Imperador e Rei: Experiências de um Príncipe (1798-1834), Lisbon, 2002; D. Maria I, Lisbon, 2007.