I was born in Paços de Ferreira, where I completed all my schooling, from primary through secondary education, in local schools.

I obtained my degree in Mathematics, in the Pure Mathematics track, from the University of Porto in 1990. I remained at the same institution to complete, two years later, a Master’s degree in Pure Mathematics. In 1997, I was awarded a Ph.D. in Mathematics by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, a city that would profoundly shape both my scientific and personal trajectory.

I began my academic career in 1991 as a Trainee Assistant, and since then I have carried out all my teaching and research activities in the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. In 2004, I obtained the Habilitation (Agregação), and since November 2019 I have held the position of Full Professor. I have also been an integrated member of the Centre of Mathematics of the University of Porto since the beginning of my career, actively contributing to its scientific development over the past decades.

In May 2022, I was elected a corresponding member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. Between June 2020 and June 2025, I also served as Director of the Department of Mathematics, a period during which I sought to contribute to strengthening both its scientific standing and the quality of its academic programmes.

Throughout my academic career, I have had the opportunity to supervise six Master’s dissertations, ten doctoral theses and eight postdoctoral projects, and I have also coordinated four competitively funded research projects.

I have delivered more than one hundred and fifty talks at conferences and seminars held across all five continents, and I have undertaken several extended research visits at leading international institutions, including the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, the Centre de Physique Théorique in Luminy, the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics in Rio de Janeiro, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, the Federal University of Bahia, and the University of Maryland.

I also held two sabbatical leaves at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, both funded by prestigious British institutions: the first by the Leverhulme Trust and the second by the Royal Society.

I am the author of more than fifty scientific articles and two books in the areas of Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory. My research has consistently focused on the statistical properties of chaotic systems, in particular on understanding the mechanisms that govern the asymptotic behaviour of complex dynamical processes.

During the four years I lived in Rio de Janeiro while completing my doctoral studies, I also developed a special connection with Brazilian popular music. During that time, I had the opportunity to adapt and further develop my guitar playing, exploring the rhythms, harmonies and aesthetic subtlety of bossa nova and other Brazilian genres—an influence that has remained an integral part of my life beyond academia.