I have been teaching museum studies at postgraduate level for the past 13 years at the Univ. of Porto, Portugal. After finishing a first combined degree in history and archaeology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal (1987) I pursued my studies at the University of Leicester (M.A. 1991 and PhD 2003) where I presented a thesis on museum professional discourses (The Professional Museumscape: Portuguese Poetics and Politics), supervised by Professor Susan Pearce. I am also currently a researcher at the Instituto de Sociologia da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto.

My research interests tend to be focused mainly around the following themes: museological discourses, social impact of museums, urban regeneration and the creative city. Within my research activities and projects I organized different conferences and co-edited several books: A Cultura em Acção: Impactos Sociais e Território / Culture in Action: social impacts and territory (Porto, Edições Afrontamento, 2003), Reconversão e Musealização de Espaços Industriais / Rehabilitation and musealisation of industrial spaces (Porto: Museu da Indústria do Porto, 2003) e Museus, Discursos e Representações / Museums, discourses and representations (Porto: Edições Afrontamento, 2005), Museus Universitários com Colecções de Ciências Físicas e Tecnológicas em Museus Universitários: Homenagem a Fernando Bragança Gil/ University museums with science collections (Porto: FLUP, 2005). At the moment I am preparing the edition of the volume (novos) museus: (novos) profissionalismos / (new) museums: (new) professionalisms.