José Manuel Martins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social, Political, and Territorial Sciences at the University of Aveiro. He holds a degree in Environmental Engineering (U. Aveiro), a postgraduate degree in Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics (Belgium), and a PhD in Applied Environmental Sciences (U. Aveiro). He has participated in several European and national scientific projects and was the coordinator of the project "Oikomatrix II, Assessment of the environmental, economic, and regional impacts of the implementation of legal measures to reduce CO2 emissions". He is a member of the research group GETIN - Research Group on Territory and Innovation - and a full member of the Research Unit GOVCOPP - Governance, Competitiveness, and Public Policies. He was the Vice-President for the Environment of CCDRC - the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the Center Region - between 2005 and 2007. In 2021 and 2022, he taught the course on Environmental Systems and Sustainability in the Master's Degree in Regional and Urban Planning, using a challenge-based teaching approach. José Manuel Martins is the author and co-author of more than 60 publications presented at national and international conferences or published in scientific journals and books.