David Pires received his BSc in Biology-Geology from the University of Minho in 2014 and his MSc in Ecology from the same university in 2016, specializing in Plant Nematology. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Évora, developing his project at the Nematology laboratory of the National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research (INIAV, I.P.). He has over 5 years of experience in multidisciplinary R&D projects, including 3 months in an international context, having contributed to 2 EU-funded and 6 national projects. His current research focuses on the biological control of plant-parasitic nematodes, with a strong emphasis on multitrophic interactions. He's the author/co-author of 6 peer-reviewed papers (three as first author, one of which in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric), 2 conference proceedings, 2 technical articles, 20 talks (presented 15, four as invited speaker) and 19 posters (presented 10). He supervised/co-supervised 2 BSc students to completion, he's supervising another BSc and tutored 3 MSc students, 1 Senior Lab Technician and 1 MSc Research Fellow, providing basic training in Nematology. He has reviewed 50 manuscripts for 23 journals. He was member of the organizing committee of 7 events (1 conference, 4 seminars and 2 workshops), member of the scientific committee of 1 conference and volunteer at an international conference. He was a member on the Examination Board of 1 BSc student. He served as a Science Communications Assistant for an EU-funded project, where he implemented the strategic plan to disseminate outputs, while overseeing content creation for the project's website and social media. Other of his accomplishments include: i) having been awarded Best Poster presentation at an international conference; ii) having been appointed social media manager (Twitter/X) by the Governing Board of the European Society of Nematologists; iii) having been elected Student Representative on the Course Committee of the doctoral program in Biology at the University of Évora for the biennia 2022/2023 and 2024/2025. Amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, he took a proactive role in co-founding Active Plant Nematologists, a group dedicated to enhancing communication and collaboration among nematologists across the globe. He quickly took this opportunity to establish international collaborations. His internationalization efforts have resulted in several publications with scientists across the globe and further allowed him to start cooperating with the Plant and Soil Health Research Unit at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines, in 2024.