Science

Leonor Saúde has a PhD in Developmental Biology from University College London (UK) and a post-doctoral degree from the Gulbenkian Institute of Science. She got her Master’s degree in Biochemical Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico and her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Aveiro.
Leonor set up her laboratory at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science in 2005. She then transferred to the Institute of Molecular Medicine (now the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine) in 2008 to head a research team.
In addition, she has also held the positions of Director of the Zebrafish Unit (2008-2024), member of the Executive Committee of the Training Hub (2016-2024), Commissioner of the Communications Office (2021-2024) and represented the Research Council at the iMM General Assembly (2022-2024).
Leonor is a visiting associate professor at the University of Lisbon School of Medicine, where she is on the Committee for Gender Equality, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination, as well as the Scientific Committee for the Master’s programme in Biomedical Research. She is also one of the founders of the Portuguese Society for Developmental Biology (SPBD), where she has been the president (2015-2017) and has also held other positions.

Last updated: October 2025

Alfonso Martínez Arias is ICREA Research Professor in the department of systems bioengineering of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. The recipient of numerous awards, he is co-author of the biology textbook «Principles of Development», which was awarded the Royal Society of Biology book prize.

Last updated: october 2025

British journalist and author, renowned for his expertise in geopolitics and international affairs.
With over thirty years of experience, he served as diplomatic editor at Sky News and reported from more than 30 countries, including 12 war zones such as Iraq, Syria, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
He has been shot with birdshot in Cairo, detained by secret services in Damascus, bombed in Belgrade, and assaulted by police in Tehran, experiences that bring a first-hand, hard-won perspective to his global analyses.
He is the author of several books on world politics, most notably «Prisoners of Geography», a global bestseller translated into over 30 languages, which explores how geography continues to shape the fate of nations. His mission: to make the invisible forces that shape our world understandable to everyone.

Last updated: august 2025

Physicist, first and foremost, but she’s acquired a few other labels along the way: oceanographer, presenter, author and bubble enthusiast.
Maths and science (especially physics) always felt as though they would be her focus in the long term, and she studied Natural Sciences (Physics) at Churchill College, Cambridge.
A year later, she returned to Cambridge to study for a PhD in experimental explosives physics, motivated by the opportunity to use high-speed photography to explore the physical world further.
She completed her postdoctoral studies at the Graduate School of Oceanography in Rhode Island. And then she came back to the UK to start her own research programme on the physics of oceanic bubbles, first at the University of Southampton and then at her current academic home, University College London.
She has presented many BBC science documentaries on a wide range of subjects, mostly on everyday physics or atmospheric and ocean science. She is also a regular presenter for the «Fully Charged Show», a very familiar face on the Cosmic Shambles Network, and hosts an ocean podcast for the Bertarelli Foundation called «Ocean Matters».

Last updated: july 2025

Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Lisbon School of Agriculture (ISA). She got her PhD in 1993 and is a professor at the same school. She directed the Botanic Garden in Ajuda. She designed the amphitheatre and has been in charge of restoration work at Quinta das Lágrimas since 2004. She is an international member of ICOMOS (UNESCO) on the International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes. She founded the Historical Gardens Association in 2002. She is a corresponding member of the Academy of Fine Arts (2016) and was honoured by France with the «Ordre d’Officier des Arts et des Lettres» (2013). She also received a Special Commendation from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Last updated: may 2025

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics (IST-UL) and a PhD in Systems Biology (ITQB-NOVA), having done her thesis at Harvard University in the USA.
She was principal investigator at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science and director of the Science for Development Postgraduate Programme, a PhD programme aimed at PALOP (Portuguese-speaking African countries).
She was a professor at Nova SBE and has been coordinating the multidisciplinary research group «Social Physics & Complexity» — SPAC at the Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics Laboratory since 2020.

Last updated: april 2025

Helena Rafael holds a degree in Social Communication from NOVA University Lisbon, which she completed in 1993, and a postgraduate qualification from ISCTE. She began her career in the digital sector at LaNetro during the internet boom of the 1990s.
She later established the communication departments of the publishing houses Presença and Principia before taking on the same role at Gradiva, where she has been since 2006.
Currently, she is leading an editorial and graphic renewal project at the publishing house, founded by Guilherme Valente in 1981.

Last updated: January 2025

Founder of the consulting company ‘MD Media Fusion’, presenter of the programme ‘Economia Sem Fronteiras’ and television commentator on the ‘News Now’ channel.
She has spent most of her career in the USA, where she was a reporter for ABC News, Fox News and a correspondent for TVI, based in New York, covering the major global events of recent decades.
Specialising in Justice and International Politics, she followed media cases in the New York courts, including those of Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and ‘El Chapo. She has interviewed figures such as Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu and Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Last updated: January 2025