Biography

Dr. Rui Moutinho Sá is an environmental anthropologist, with a Ph.D. in Anthropology specialized in Biological Anthropology and Ethnoecology from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and the University of Cardiff in Wales, United Kingdom, with the title of Doctor Europaeus. He conducted his postdoctoral research in Ecology in Brno, Czech Republic (2012-2014). Between 2014 and 2019, he founded and coordinated the first undergraduate degree program in Marine and Environmental Sciences at the Universidade Lusófona in Guinea-Bissau, where he also led the Department of Environmental Sciences. Since 2019, he has been an assistant professor in the Anthropology Department at the School of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon (ULisboa), where he also serves as the executive coordinator for the undergraduate and master's programs in Anthropology. He is an associated researcher at the Center for Public Administration and Policies (CAPP) at ULisboa, accredited by the Portuguese national agency - Fundação da Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) as a center of excellence, serving as the coordinator of the research line ATEGINA - Environment and Anthropocenic Narratives, and collaborating researcher at the Ocean Literacy Observatory (OLO) at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. His research interests revolve around: Political Ecology and Anthropology of Natural Resources; Ecologies of Resistance and Counterinsurgencies; Sustainability and Environmental History; Ethnobiology and Local and Traditional Ecological Knowledge; "Alternative" Ontologies and Epistemologies; Indigenous Peoples, Environmental Movements, Climate Change, and the Anthropocene; Conservation and Awareness Anthropology; Spiritual Ecology; Plant-Human Relationships and Bioethics, conducting long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Guinea-Bissau since 2007. He has around 20 scientific articles published as first author, in collaboration, or as senior author, a book chapter, and a book. According to Google Scholar (accessed in March 2024), he has an h-index of 12 citations since 2012, with an average of 1.75 articles published per year. The publications were made in prestigious journals (Q1 and Q2) with high impact factors such as: Journal of Environmental Management; Natural Hazards; Ocean & Coastal Management; Atmospheric Pollution Research; Plos One; American Journal of Primatology; American Journal of Physical Anthropology; Biological Conservation; Social Anthropology. He has participated as a researcher in several competitive research projects funded by the European Union, US Fish and Wildlife Service or FCT. He has presented oral and poster communications at more than 40 scientific meetings, congresses, and conferences, including approximately 10 as a keynote or invited speaker. Currently, he is the principal investigator in the project registered at CAPP: EnviroAnth - The contribution of Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobiology to the understanding of society in transformation. He is mentor of two post-doctoral researchers in the field of climate change, having successfully supervised one doctoral student, six master's students, and approximately twenty undergraduate final projects. Currently, he is the doctoral advisor to six doctoral students, two master's students, and three undergraduate students. He has served as the main examiner in three public doctoral defenses and three master's defenses. He has been part of the organizing and scientific committees in a dozen scientific events. He has evaluated panels for the FCT in the field of Anthropology in competitions for doctoral scholarships (2020-2021) and has also participated as a jury member in selection committees for research fellowships in various projects. He is a member of the Tropical College at ULisboa and has been a member of the board of the Portuguese Anthropological Association since January 2023. His hobbies include meditation, practicing crossfit, and reading.