José Lourenço got his BSc in Environmental Sciences (2019) and MSc in Ecology (2022), both at the University of Minho (UMinho). In March 2022, he concluded his MSc thesis, developed in the Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA) and the Institute of Science and Innovation for Bio-Sustainability (IB-S) under the supervision of Giorgio Pace and Cláudia Pascoal. He has been team member of three research projects with competitive funding: i) STREAMECO: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning under Climate Change: from the Gene to the Stream (PTDC/CTA-AMB/31245/2017), which supported his MSc thesis (01/06/2021-31/05/2022); ii) ECOBIB: Eco-Innovative Bag-In-Box Solutions (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033997), with a 4-month fellow during 2022 to perform ecotoxicological assays with model organisms, namely Daphnia magna, Raphidocelis subcapitata and Brassica rapa (01/06/2022-30/09/2022). iii) REACTivar Guimarães-Renaturalização dos Corredores Verdes dos rios Ave, Selho e Vizela (POCI-07-62G9-FEDER-181457), with a 15-month fellow for stream biomonitoring (01/10/2022-31/12/2023). He collaborates in the Iberian network IberRios - Exploring large-scale impacts of multiple stressors and biodiversity change on river functioning and biogeochemistry, carrying out experiments in Portuguese streams. In 2022, he completed the course CAL-AQUA - Laboratory Aquatic Animal Science, at CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research and certified by the Direção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária and University of Porto, earning a professional training certificate (Dec. Reg. Nº35/2002). In 2024, he did a specialization online course in Genomic Data Science provided by Johns Hopkins University. Since his BSc, he acquired solid knowledge in freshwater ecology, sampling methodologies to assess diversity of different biologic groups (heterotrophic microbes, diatoms, macrophytes, invertebrates and fish), and ecosystem processes (decomposition and primary production). He got experience in characterization of abiotic variables, including drivers of global change (plastics, eutrophication, changes in land use), in the field and the laboratory. Further efforts were done to improve skills in data treatment and R programing. He published two scientific papers, as 1st and corresponding author in Environmental Research (JCR-Clarivates IF:8.3) and as 2nd author in Environmental Pollution (JCR-Clarivates IF:8.9). In Lourenço et al., (2023) they found that multiple stressors had additive effects on taxonomic and functional diversity. In Pace et al., (2024) they found that riverside litter tends to be retained close to the source, even under floods. In both studies, he contributed to the field and lab work, data treatment and paper writing. He co-authored an oral presentation in the 21st AIL congress (Aveiro, July 2022) and a poster in the SEFS13 (Newcastle, June 2023). He helped organizing the 9th Meeting in Plant Litter Processing in Freshwaters (https://plpf9.org) at the UMinho (May 2022), with delegates from 16 countries. He has been engaged in science dissemination at UMinho for undergraduate students (March 2023), at the European Researchers’ Night (Braga, September 2023), and presenting a talk at IB-S in the Cycle of Seminars on "Ecology behind the Scenes” (November 2023). He is member of the Iberian Association of Limnology (AIL) which granted him an oral presentation in the 22nd AIL Meeting (Vigo, June 2024) and he will participate in University Open Days (18-19April 2024).