Profile

Domingos Xavier Viegas graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico in 1972, obtained his Doctoral degree in Industrial Aerodynamics in 1982, at the University of Coimbra, and obtained the title of Agregado in 1994. Started his academic career at the IST in 1970 and transferred in 1973 to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Coimbra, where he served as Assistant, Auxiliary, and Associate Professor, and from 1994, as Full Professor. In 2020, he retired from his academic career. In 2025, he was nominated Emeritus Professor by the University of Coimbra. In 1990, he founded the Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics and presided over its board till 2020. He promoted the creation of the Laboratory of Industrial Aerodynamics and the Forest Fires Research Laboratory. He organized the International Conference on Forest Fire Research, which has been held every four years in Portugal since 1990. In 1985, he initiated an interdisciplinary research program on wildfires. He is the Director of the Forest Fires Research Center, whose team has collaborated with various institutions and research centres at an international level, receiving recognition and support from several national and European programs. He participated in 50 national and 40 international projects, having coordinated several of them. He made original contributions to the understanding of wildfire behavior, particularly in relation to certain modes of extreme fire behavior, and to enhancing personal safety. He published 106 ISI papers and supervised 24 PhD theses. In November 2004, he received the Premio El Batefuegos de Oro from the Spanish Ministry of the Environment for his contributions to research on forest fires. In 2017, the International Association of Wildland Fire granted him the Fire Safety Award and, in 2022, the Ember Award for Excellence in Wildland Fire Science.