Profile

He studied in Canada for his PhD with WS Fyfe at a time when the first hydrothermal fields were discovered on the seabed. He became deeply involved in understanding ancient mineral deposits in the light of active deposits on the seabed today. He has been involved in the discovery of several SMS deposits on the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic seabed. He has participated in numerous offshore cruises (total of over 9 months), including as co-chief scientist on Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 193 to investigate the Pacmanus field in Papua New Guinea waters. He actively participated in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, and was Portugal’s delegate to Ecord until 2016. From 2004 to 2010 he was Director of the National Museum of Natural History. He was Director of Creminer FCUL LARSyS, a research unit with extensive activity in mineral deposits, until it merged with the Dom Luiz Institute (end of 2014). In 2013 he spoke at the European Parliament’s STOA Panel on the future of mineral resources on the seabed; in 2014 he was Co-Chair of the Technical Program and Host of the 43rd Underwater Mining Institute. In 2014 he was a Guest Speaker at EurOcean 2014 and contributed to the Rome final declaration. Recently (2015-2019) he was coordinator of the Portuguese team in the EU Blue Mining project. In 2018 he was a guest speaker at the European Parliament Event “Azores: Deeper than Blue”. Also in 2018, he was appointed Guest Professor at the Key Laboratory of Underwater Geosciences, State Oceanic Administration, China (three years). In 2019 he was appointed a member of the InterRidge Working Group on SMS Resources along the MOR and, since its creation in 2017, a member of the Monitoring Group of the Framework for the Extension of the Continental Shelf. He was a member of the advisory panel for the MarMine project (Norway).