Graduation in Geology (University of Coimbra, 1987) and PhD in Geology (Universities of Minho, Portugal and Poitiers, France, 1997). Full Professor at the University of Minho (Braga, Portugal) since 2017 and Director of the Earth Sciences Research Centre. Member of the: i) UNESCO IGCP Scientific Board (International Geoscience Programme); ii) UNESCO Global Geopark Evaluation Team; iii) World Commission on Protected Areas - IUCN and its Geoheritage Specialist Group. He is also a member of the Task Group on Geoethics and Geoheritage of the International Association for Promoting Geoethics. He was: i) Director of the Master Course on Geological Heritage and Geoconservation; ii) Director of the Earth Sciences Department; iii) Vice-President of the Sciences School; and iv) Visiting Researcher at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). He was also: i) President of ProGEO (European Association for the Conservation of the Geological Heritage); ii) coordinator of the "Working Group Geoheritage Assessment" of the IUGS's "International Commission on Geoheritage"; and iii) member of the Advisory Group of Global Geoparks Network (UNESCO), IUGS Geoheritage Task Group, Portuguese Committee of Geosciences UNESCO-IGCP and of the Portuguese Committee of Geoparks. He was co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Geoheritage (Springer). Currently he develops applied research on geodiversity and geoconservation in cooperation with geoparks, protected areas and other conserved areas. He was involved in the initiatives for the establishment of the International Geodiversity Day, approved by the 41st Session of the UNESCO's General Conference in November 2021.