Research Team

José Villar (PhD)

He is currently Senior Researcher at INESC TEC in its Center for Power and Energy Systems where he coordinates the area of Electricity Markets. He has participated in more than 70 research projects with industry and administrations, coordinating or participating in the coordination of many of them, and is co-author of more than 110 papers in International journals and conferences. His current areas of interest include electricity markets modelling and regulation, and the operation and strategic planning of power systems in the current context of energy transition.
He was born in 1967 in Madrid. He received the degree in Electronic Engineering in 1991 and his Ph.D in 1997 from the School of Industrial Engineering-ICAI at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Spain. From 1997 to 2017 he was Researcher at the Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica-IIT of ICAI and Deputy Director of IIT from 2004 to 2016. He was Senior Associate Professor at the ICAI Electronic and Communications Department, and, from 2013 to 2017, member of the Doctorate Academic Commission of Comillas University.

Research Interests: Energy markets and regulation, energy communities

Filipe J. Soares

He has a degree in Physics and a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems, from the MIT|Portugal Program. He is currently a Senior Researcher at INESC TEC and Assistant Professor at the Lusophone University of Porto. He has coordinated and been involved in several projects in the field of power systems for over 12 years, addressing the integration of renewable energies, storage and electric vehicles in power systems, participation of flexible loads and aggregators in electricity markets, energy efficiency, consumer engagement and, more recently, multi-energy systems and green hydrogen production. He has also authored or co-authored over 100 articles published in energy journals and conferences.

Research Interests: Multi-energy Systems.

Carlos Oliveira

He received the M.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal, in 2021. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal. His research interests include consumer-centric markets, distributed generation, renewable energy sources proliferation and energy resources management and optimization. Conducted studies and modeled consumer-centric markets with and without the integration of a product differentiation mechanism. He modeled these markets also with decomposition techniques. It is currently modeling community-centered markets where participants can have stakes in community assets in addition to private ones. In the future, it intends to assess the impact of these markets on the electricity grid.

Research Interests: Community Energy Trading: A Distributed Approach to Resource Sharing

Wellington W.F. Fonseca

He received the B.Sc. in marine science and the B.Sc. in petroleum engineering both from Federal University of São Paulo, Santos, Brazil, in 2016 and 2020, respectively. He received the M.Sc. in energy technology from the Energy and Environment Institute of University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, in 2021. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. in sustainable energy systems at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. His research interest includes renewable energy resource and management, distributed generation, machine learning modeling, electricity markets, energy policy, and remote sensing. He is currently developing a data-driven model for estimating building energy flexibility and assessing optimal metering and sensors layout within a building.

Research Interests: Knowledge-based data-driven model for day-ahead commercial building energy flexibility forecasting and improved smart-metering layout

Ahmed Aziz Ouertatani

He received the integrated M.Sc. degree in computer systems engineering from MedTech (Mediterranean Institute of Technology) of Tunis, Tunisia, in 2019. He conducted his 6 months master thesis in smart energy management dashboard at the Institution of Systems and Robotics (ISR) of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in sustainable energy systems at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal. His research interests include energy smart metering, IoT based energy platforms, decentralized energy trading and optimization and management of electric vehicle charging. He built a pipeline for tracking the real-time data of EV chargers. He worked on cleaning the input data provided by the smart meters and automated the process of collecting the EV chargers’ electric components. He is working on uploading the data in central database to be available through HTTP requests.

Research Interests: Knowledge-based data-driven model for day-ahead commercial building energy flexibility forecasting and improved smart-metering layout

Felipe do Carmo

He received the B.Sc. in electrical engineering from the University of Porto Faculty of Engineering in 2021. He is currently pursuing the M.Sc degree at University of Porto Faculty of Engineering. His research interests include renewable energy markets, data science applied to the energy market,  forecasting, distributed generation and change of paradigms in power systems.

Research Interests: Overcoming Data Scarcity in Load Forecasting: A Transfer Learning Approach for Commercial Buildings

Nuno Alves

He is pursuing the integrated MSc. in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Porto Faculty of Engineering. His research interests include electric mobility and hardware, design, software and control of power converters for electric vehicles.

Research Interests: Designing and development of electric vehicle smart chargers.

MD Wakil Ahmad

He has received the B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering from the United International University (UIU) in 2019. He is currently pursuing the M.Sc in Data Science and Engineering from the University of Porto Faculty of Engineering (FEUP). His research interests include multi-energy systems modelling, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, data analysis, optimization.

Research Interests: Modelling of multi-energy networks, including electricity, gas and heating.

David Søren da Cruz

He received the B.Sc. in engineering science from the Technical University of Munich in 2022. He is currently pursuing the M.Sc degree on mechanical engineering in the area of energy systems at Technical University of Munich. His research interests include energy systems, predictive control, power plant control, energy storage technologies, control optimization and data analysis..

Research Interests: Development of resilient and cooperative energy communities

Fernando Henrique Maia da Paula

He received the B.Sc in Chemical Engineering from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) in 2012 and the M.Sc in Chemical Engineering from from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFJR) in 2017. He is currently pursuing the M.Sc in Data Analytics at University of Porto Faculty of Economics and Management (FEP). His research interests include Artificial Intelligence applied to data, energy forecasting, probabilistic forecasting, machine learning, data markets.

Research Interests: Design of market-oriented solutions to explore the trade-off between privacy loss and compensation from selling data.

Wanessa Guedes

She received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), is currently pursuing the Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the UFJF and is a member of the SMART4GRIDS research group. In addition, she is carrying out an exchange period in partnership with the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESCTEC). She has published articles in specialized journals, in conferences, and has technical production items. She has interest in the area of Electrical Engineering, currently emphasizing the areas of energy markets, renewable energy sources, and storage systems, performing technical and financial analyses.

Research Interest: Renewable energy communities considering battery energy storage systems

Rui Campos

Rui Campos has a PhD degree in Electrical and Computers Engineering in 2011, from University of Porto. Currently, he is the Coordinator of the Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia at INESC TEC, an Assistant Professor at FEUP, and he is an IEEE Senior Member. He has coordinated several research projects, including: SIMBED in Fed4FIRE+ Open Call 3, UGREEN, BLUECOM+, MareCom, MTGrid, the WiFIX action approved in CONFINE Open Call 1, Mare-Fi, Under-Fi, ReCoop, and HiperWireless. Rui Campos has participated in several research projects, including the following European projects: H2020 Fed4FIRE+, H2020 RAWFIE, FP7 SUNNY, FP7 CONFINE, FP6 Ambient Networks Phase 1, and FP6 Ambient Networks Phase 2. His research interests include medium access control, radio resource management, mobility management, and network auto-configuration in emerging wireless networks, with special focus on flying networks, maritime networks, and underwater networks.

Research Interest: Flying networks, maritime networks, underwater networks and network digital twins.

Hélder Oliveira

Hélder P. Oliveira received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 2013. He is currently working as Senior Researcher at INESC TEC and is the Leader of the Visual Computing and Machine Intelligence Area, and member of the coordination council of the Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia. He is also one of the coordinators of the Data Science Hub at INESC TEC. He is also working at the Computer Science Department of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto as an Invited Assistant Professor. He co-authored 40+ international peer-reviewed papers, have one patent conceded (Europe, China, Japan) and 80+ works in international conferences. In total, these publications have attracted +1200 citations, with an h-index of 19 according to Google Scholar. Hélder Oliveira is member of IEEE and also of the Portuguese Association of Pattern Recognition (APRP), which was elected as member of the presidency in 2021.

Research Interest: Computer Vision and Machine Learning.

Luís Pessoa

Luís Pessoa is a senior researcher at the Centre of Telecommunications and Multimedia of INESC TEC, where he is also the coordinator of the area of Optical and Electronic Technologies. He received the Licenciatura degree in 2006 and PhD degree in 2011, both in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Currently he is responsible for the conception and management of R&D projects, coordination of research students and fostering the valorisation of research results through new contracts with industry. He was previously involved in teaching of RF/microwave engineering and optical communications as an invited assistant professor at the University of Porto. He is the author/co-author of more than 50 publications in international conferences and journals with peer-review, and 1 European patent. He has coordinated several research projects and participated in several EU research projects.

Research Interest: Coherent optical systems, radio-over-fibre, RF/microwave devices and antennas, and underwater wireless power/communications.

Paula Viana

Paula Viana is a Coordinator Professor at the Polytechnic of Porto and a Researcher at INESC TEC, where I lead the Multimedia Communications Technology Area. I obtained my PhD from University of Porto in the area of multimedia content management. I have been responsible for the participation of INESC TEC in several national and European projects, involving universities and media industries. Author of several publications, I am also an active reviewer for journals and conferences and engaged in the organization of workshops and program committees in the area of Multimedia. Recently I co-chaired the Immersive Media Experiences workshop series (2013-2015) at ACM MM. Additionally I am also often engaged in the evaluation of European and Portuguese research proposals and projects.

Research Interest: networked audiovisual systems, including digital television and new services, content management, personalization and recomendation, new media formats and immersive and interactive media.

Pedro Carvalho

Pedro Carvalho was born in the district of Porto. He got a degree in Electric and Computer Engineering in 2001, a Master’s degree in Networks and Communication Services in 2004 and the PhD degree in Electric and Computer Engineering in 2012, all from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He has been a collaborator of INESC TEC since 2001 and he is currently a Senior Researcher at the Center of Telecommunications and Multimedia. He is also an Invited Adjunct Professor at the School of Engineering of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto.

Research Interest: Image and video processing, multimedia systems and computer vision.

Manuel Ricardo

Manuel Alberto Pereira Ricardo has Licenciatura, M.Sc. and PhD (2000) degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering (EEC), major of Telecommunications, from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). Manuel Ricardo is currently a full professor at FEUP where he teaches courses on Mobile Communications and Computer Networks. He is the head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (EEC) and member of the Scientific Committee of the Doctoral Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering. At INESC TEC, he coordinated the Wireless Networks area (2001-2011), the Center for Telecommunications and Multimedia (2011-2018), was member of the Board of Directors (2018-2021), and is currently an associate director focused on telecommunications. He created the Portuguese Thematic Network on Mobile Communications (RTCM, 2004). He is a member of the Steering Committee of the ns-3 communications network simulator consortium. He participated in 30+ research projects and has 150+ articles published.

Research Interest: Mobile communications networks, quality of service, radio resource management, network congestion control, traffic characterization and performance assessment.

André Coelho

André Coelho was born in Porto, Portugal, in 1993. He has an MSc degree in Electrical and Computers Engineering from University of Porto, Portugal, in 2016. Currently, he is a PhD student in Telecommunications at University of Porto and a researcher in the Wireless Networks research group of the Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia (CTM) at INESC TEC. André Coelho has participated in the following research projects: 1) FLEXUS – Flexible Unmanned Surface Vehicles for the Internet of Moving Things; 2) WISE – Traffic-aware Flying Backhaul Mesh Networks; 3) 5G – Components and Services for 5G Networks; 4) CHIC – Cooperative Holistic View on Internet and Content; 5) ResponDrone – Novel Integrated Solution of Operating a Fleet of Drones with Multiple Synchronized Missions for Disaster Responses; and 6) DECARBONIZE – Development of strategies and policies based on energy and non-energy applications towards CARBON neutrality via digitalization for citIZEns and society.

Research Interest: Emerging wireless networks, with a special focus on flying networks composed of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Nuno Paulino

Nuno Paulino received a M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto in 2011. He received his Ph.D. in the same field from the same institution in 2015, where he currently is an Invited Assistant Professor. He has been a researcher at INESC Technology and Science since 2015, where he has participated in five research projects. He has supervised two MSc thesis, co-supervised three MSc theses, and is currently supervising and co-supervising three MSc theses. He has written three national project proposals as PI, contributed in an additional three national project proposals as a team member/workpackage leader, and as a member of a recently (2023) accepted European project and two national projects.

Research Interest: Run-time reconfigurable systems, edge computing in FPGAs, co-processor hardware acceleration, tools for hardware/software co-design automation, new heterogeneous computing architectures in the RISC-V ecosystem, and wireless telecommunications.

Helder Fontes

Helder Fontes received the MSc degree in 2010 and Ph.D. degree in 2019, both in Informatics Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal. He is the coordinator of the Wireless Networks (WiN) area at INESC TEC and since 2009 he has participated in multiple national and EU research projects, including SITMe, HiperWireless, FP7 SUNNY, H2020 ResponDrone, DECARBONIZE, FLY.PT, OVERWATCH, SuperIoT, NEXUS, Produtech R3, and Fed4FIRE+ SIMBED, SIMBED+ and SMART open call projects. He has been advisor of 10+ MSc theses on wireless networking simulation, emulation, and experimentation.

Research Interest: Wireless networking simulation, emulation, and experimentation in the scope of emerging scenarios such as airborne and maritime, with special focus on repeatability and reproducibility of experiments using network digital twins.

João Loureiro

João Pedro Loureiro received a MSc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Porto (FEUP). He is currently pursuing a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering and working as a Research Assistant at the Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia (CTM) at INESC TEC (Porto, Portugal). His research interests include underwater networks and maritime communications.

Research Interest: Underwater communications, multimodal and efficient maritime communications, network simulation and digital twins.

Eduardo Almeida

Eduardo Nuno Almeida is an R&D Engineer at INESC TEC and a PhD candidate in the Doctoral Programme in Telecommunications (MAP-tele) at Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal. Since 2021, he is also an invited Teaching Assistant at FEUP, lecturing courses on computer networks, telecommunications and informatics. In 2015, he received his MSc degree in Electrical and Computers Engineering – Telecommunications, Electronics and Computers from FEUP. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD research on traffic-aware UAV placement for aerial wireless networks and the development of digital twin models of wireless networks in the Network Simulator 3 (ns-3), using artificial intelligence techniques. He has published several scientific papers on international conferences and journals, participated in national and international R&D projects at INESC TEC and co-supervised MSc dissertations and Summer internships at FEUP / INESC TEC. Since 2022, he is a co-maintainer of the ns-3 open-source project.

Research Interest: Aerial wireless networks, UAV placement, digital twins, reinforcement learning and machine learning.

Luís Vilaça

Luís Vilaça has a degree and Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his currently attending the Ph.D., in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Since quite early in his academic path, he developed a particular interest in the field of Computer Vision (CV) and Machine Learning (ML, challenging himself with projects related to Facial Detection and Recognition which led to a score of 18 and 20 (over 20) in his Bac. and MSc’ dissertations, respectively. The experience obtained by working as a research assistant at INESC TEC, on several national and international projects, allowed him to strengthen his competencies as a goal-oriented person and to develop the skills to adapt to new challenging scenarios. Recently, he was also involved in an online internship within the National Institute of Informatics (NII), allowing him to develop skills for ML in multimodal domains. During these last years, he was also engaged in the organization of workshops, co-supervision of master’s thesis, summer internships mentoring, and presentations of ongoing work for dissemination purposes or in project meetings. Currently, as an invited assistant, he is teaching a class on Advanced Computational Systems in the School of Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto.

Research Interest: Machine Learning and Computer Vision.

Joana Sousa

Joana Sousa received the MSc degree in bioengineering from the University of Porto, Faculty of Engineering, Portugal, in 2021. She is currently working as Researcher at INESC TEC at DECARBONIZE project. She co-authored four international peer-reviewed papers.

Research Interest: Computer Vision and Machine Learning.

Pedro Freitas

Pedro Freitas has a Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Throughout his academic career, he integrated a variety of team projects that allowed him to improve his communication skills and task management, simultaneously consolidating a sense of responsibility and autonomy. He has a great interest in the areas of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, also looking to expand his knowledge in the fields of Process Management and Optimization, Supply Chain Management and Simulation, among others. Thus, he is strongly motivated to respond to all the challenges that are presented to him in order to achieve his professional goals.

Research Interest: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Gonçalo Santos

Gonçalo Santos received the MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, in 2021. He developed a trace-based ns3-gym Reinforcement Learning Environment Framework for Wireless Networks, enabling the capability of implementing data-driven propagation loss models to be used in the Wireless Networks Digital Twins.

Research Interest: Propagation Loss Models, Machine-learning for networking, network digital twins.

José Magalhães

José Magalhães received the MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, in 2022. He developed a Rate Adaptation Algorithm using Reinforcement Learning for Delay Minimisation in a Wi-Fi Link, with applicability in Wireless Networks Digital and Physical Twins  to improve link efficiency, and therefore, energy efficiency.

Research Interest: Rate-adaptation, Machine-learning for networking, network digital twins.

Ricardo Trancoso

Ricardo Trancoso received the MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, in 2022. He analysed and optimised the computational delays associated to reinforcement learning-based rate adaptation algorithms. With the lower delays, better link and energy efficiency can be achieved.

Research Interest: Reinforcement Learning, network digital twins, optimization of computational delays.

Catarina Sousa

Catarina Sousa is currently pursuing the integrated MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. She is developing a machine learning model based on GANs and time series that is able to learn the traffic patterns of a real network and reproduce real-like traffic patterns and load in the network digital twin to evaluate the impact of ”what if/why not” scenarios before implementing the changes in the physical twin.

Research Interest: Traffic generation, data-driven models, network digital twins.

João Pinto

João Pinto is currently pursuing the integrated MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He is implementing the capability of the network digital twin to realistically reproduce the computational delays that exist in the physical twin.

Research Interest: Machine-learning for networking, network digital twins.

Hugo S. Oliveira

Hugo S. Oliveira received a master’s degree in Electrical and Computers Engineering in 2013 from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and a master´s degree in Computer Science in 2016 from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP). Currently, Hugo is a research assistant at INESC TEC, associated with the Visual Computing and Machine Intelligence Group (VCMI), and a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP). Hugo is also an Invited Teaching Assistant at FCUP, teaching computer architectures and programming courses.

Research Interest: Transformers and Knowledge Graphs for datasets with limited supervision, aligned with his main interests in Multi-modal data mining, Graph Networks, NLP, and Deep Learning.

Isabel Azevedo (PhD)

Isabel Azevedo is a senior researcher in Sustainable Energy Systems and Head of the Energy Unit at INEGI. She has been working in energy and energy planning related topics for the last 10 years, both in the academic field as well as in more applied projects. Her professional experience includes various contributions to supporting local authorities in sustainable energy planning and in the development of specific strategies for action at the local level. She has collaborated with local authorities as well as with other local stakeholders, as local business holders, regional authorities and local energy experts. She also developed, as part of her PhD, a dedicated methodology for the evaluation of local climate change mitigation actions, with a comprehensive view on the multi-level governance framework in place. Between 2010 and 2013, she was part of an international research team of the “THINK” project, in the Robert Schuman Centre (EUI, Florence). Isabel Azevedo has a degree in Physics/Applied Mathematics from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto and a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems from the Faculty of Engineering from the University of Porto.

Research Interests: Energy Planning, Energy and Climate Policy

Mafalda Silva (PhD)

Senior researcher at INEGI since June 2021, Mafalda Silva is involved in several EU and national funded projects as EMB3RS, Nudge, COME RES and Decarbonize. Previously, she worked at the International Energy Agency (OECD), being in charge of the team working on energy efficiency indicators. She was also responsible for the coordination between the Energy Data Centre and the Clean Energy Transition Programme from the IEA. Her professional experience also includes consulting work in the field of environmental sustainability, with the development of dedicated sustainability strategies for several municipalities in the metropolitan area of Porto. As part of her PhD, she developed a model that supports the integration of energy in the exercise of urban planning, modelling the relation between buildings/transport and energy use. Between 2010 and 2013, she participated in several projects in the field of urban metabolism and urban planning practices, as part of the research group CITTA, from the University of Porto. Mafalda Silva has a degree in Environmental Sciences and a master degree in Ecology, Environment and Territory, from the Faculty of Sciences from the University of Porto. She holds a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems from the Faculty of Engineering from the University of Porto.

Research Interests: –

Ricardo Barbosa (MSc)

Ricardo Barbosa is a senior project manager in Energy Systems at INEGI. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s in Fluid Mechanics from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He joined INEGI in 1999 and has participated in and managed numerous projects in building energy audits and certification, as well as implementation of energy efficiency improvement plans in buildings and industry. He has also contributed to the development of renewable energy technologies and systems for buildings and industrial processes with the aim of increasing the efficiency of energy conversion and overall resource use. He is currently a senior technical coordinator of the Energy Group. Between 2004 and 2006, he was Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management of the Superior School of Technology of Viseu.

Research Interests: Energy Planning, Energy and Climate Policy

Ana Magalhães (PhD)

Engineer at INEGI since 2005, at which time she was part of a research and technological development team working in the area of combustion and thermodynamics. She has participated in numerous projects in different scientific fields such as Product Development (thermal energy storage systems), Energy Technologies, Thermodynamics, Combustion, Industrial Thermal, Solar Energy and Energy Efficiency. She is currently project manager and responsible for the coordination of projects in the solar energy and thermal energy areas at Energy Group of INEGI. Ana Magalhães has a Degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Fundamentals and Applications of Fluid Mechanics from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. She has specialised training in Photovoltaic Self-Consumption, by Critical Kinetics, and in Project Management, by Winning – Management Consulting.

Research Interests: –

Joana Azeredo

MSc in Environmental Sciences and Technology. Before joining INEGI she has performed activities as an environment, health and safety technician. She is a member of INEGI Energy Unit since 2021, as researcher, collaborating in several projects and consulting services focusing on energy efficient and healthy buildings. She collaborates in several projects, namely: NUDGE project, which aims at nudging consumers towards energy efficiency and improvement of indoor air-quality; and the INQUIRE project, which aims at assessing the impact of the indoor air in homes on people’s health, and particularly the health of young children. Simultaneously, she also performs consulting services to assess indoor air quality and occupational air quality. She has experience in in Environment, Health and Safety fields, regarding metalworking and foundry sector.

Research Interests: Efficient and healthy buildings

João Pedro Cardoso

Member of the Energy team at INEGI, João has participated in several projects and consulting services in the area of Energy Efficiency and in the development of roadmaps and actions plans towards carbon neutrality, in both services and industry sector. He is currently a PhD student from the Doctoral Program of Sustainable Energy Systems, at FEUP. João Pedro Cardoso holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and a Post-Graduation in Sustainable Energy Systems, also from FEUP.

Research Interests: Net Zero Energy Districts: an application methodology for existing Portuguese neighborhoods

Filipe Soares

Felipe Klein Soares is an Industrial engineer, having completed his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 2019 and 2010, respectively. As part of his Master’s, he studied the economic-financial feasibility of implementing a pumped storage hydropower plant in Brazil. From 2015 to 2022, Felipe worked at the Energy Research Office (EPE), in Brazil, developing studies that subsidize the formulation of energy policies for this country. In 2022, he started his PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems at the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto – FEUP.  At INEGI since October 2022, he integrates the Energy unit, with a scholarship dedicated to the DECARBONIZE project, and focuses his studies on policies for decarbonization in European cities.

Research Interests: The importance of policy design to foster socio-economic development and minimize environmental impacts of transitioning to a low-carbon economy in urban areas through simulation

Cátia Sofia Costa

Master’s degree holder in Environmental Engineering and postgraduate in Environmental Economics and Management, with 6 years of experience in energy sustainability projects, particularly at the city level. During her tenure at Porto Energy Agency, she participated in consulting projects, environmental education, and energy literacy programs with strong citizen engagement. She was responsible for energy and emissions reporting of the municipalities in the Porto Metropolitan Area and their corresponding municipal action plans, focusing on both climate mitigation and adaptation to climate change. She started her activity at INEGI in the beginning of 2023, being part of the Decarbonize project, with a focus on the areas of Energy Poverty, Energy Communities and Energy Efficiency and Low-carbon policies.

Research Interests: Local energy planning, Climate policies

Francisco Lázaro

Member of the Energy Unit at INEGI since 2022, Francisco Lázaro holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, in the area of Fluids and Energy.

Research Interests: –