He got his PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam/Tinbergen Institute in 2007. He is currently Associate Professor at the University of Minho (U Minho) and Director of the PhD programme in Economics at the same institution. He is also a researcher at NIPE (UMinho), CIPES (UAveiro and UPorto) and the Institute of Labour Economics (IZA), Germany, and assists the Bank of Portugal on a permanent basis. His research focuses mainly on Labour and Education Economics and Applied Econometrics. He has written several academic papers, books and book chapters, and has been published in prestigious journals such as Econometrica, the Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Regional Studies and Studies in Higher Education. His work has been cited, among others, in prestigious specialist journals such as Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, the Industrial and Labour Relations Review and Labour Economics. He maintains research collaborations in several countries, leading and integrating research teams that develop funded projects. He has authored policy-oriented reports on minimum wages, education and employment applicable to the Portuguese labour market. He also has extensive experience in consultancy for both private and public institutions.