Science

Born in Verona, Italy, in 1956, Carlo Rovelli decided to specialise in theoretical physics, having studied at the Universities of Bologna and Padova. He worked at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently at the University of Aix-Marseille, France, where he heads the Quantum Gravity group at the Luminy Centre for Theoretical Physics. Rovelli was one of the founders of the loop theory of quantum gravity, today one of the most likely candidates for merging quantum theory with Einstein's theory of general relativity. He has contributed to the history and philosophy of science, notably through the publication of a book on the Greek philosopher Anaximander and an important re-evaluation of Aristotle's physics. The author of various books acclaimed by the general public and critics alike, one of his most successful was «Seven Brief Lessons in Physics», which has been translated into 41 languages and sold over 1.2 million copies. More recently, he published «The Order of Time. Foreign Policy» magazine considered him one of the hundred most influential «Global Thinkers».

Last updated: November 2019

An astrobiologist and international expert on the origin and evolution of life in the universe, she is Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), where she created Portugal’s first astrobiology and chemistry of the cosmos research department. She is also Co-Director of the MIT-Portugal programme, a partnership between IST and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With a PhD from the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands, she has dedicated herself to studying the potential contribution of organic compounds present in meteorites and comets to the origin of life on Earth and searching for signs of life on Mars, the moons of the Solar System and extrasolar planets. She has participated in several space missions as a NASA Guest Scientist (2005/6), taught at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis in France and was Researcher at Imperial College in London between 2009 and 2017. She currently collaborates on various European Space Agency missions and is part of the national science team for the Japanese Hayabusa2 space mission. A member of the Committee of the Astrobiology Society of Great Britain and national representative of the Executive Committee of the European Astrobiology Association, she was appointed an Officer of the Military Order of Sant'Iago de Espada (2015).

Last updated: November 2019

Theoretical Physicist at CENTRA, Full Professor and Chairman of the Physics department at Instituto Superior Técnico. His research focuses on astrophysics and gravitation, particularly the physics of curved space-time, gravitational waves and black holes. He is the author of a book and around 200 articles published in international journals. His research has been honoured twice by the European Research Council.
In 2015, the President of the Republic awarded him the Order of Santiago D'Espada for his contributions to science. He is currently the leader of GWverse, an international consortium of over 30 countries and hundreds of scientists dedicated to studying gravitational waves and black holes. He is a founding member of the Portuguese Society of Relativity and Gravitation.

Last updated: March 2021

Pedro Pita Barros is a full professor at the Nova School of Business and Economics, Nova University Lisbon, where he is the BPI | Fundação la Caixa Professor of Health Economics, and a member of the Economic and Social Council (voted Personality of Recognised Merit).
Pedro held the position of Vice-Rector of Nova University Lisbon (2013-2017) and he is a member of the EC Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health (EXPH) (the European Commission, by selection). He was the President of the European Health Economics Association (2013-2016) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Energy Services Regulator (2005-2006). He was also the President of the Portuguese Health Economics Association (1998-2000; 2009-2010), a member of the EC Mission Board for Cancer (the European Commission, by selection) (2019-2020), a member of the National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences (2015-2021) and a member of the National Health Council (representing the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities) (2016-2021).
Pedro has been honoured as a Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry (Ordem do Infante D. Henrique) and with a gold medal for Distinguished Services, awarded by the Ministry of Health.
His research work is in the areas of health economics, economic regulation and competition policy. He acts as a consultant for public and private bodies in the same areas.

Last updated: August 2025

President of the European Association of Law & Economics. He is a Professor of Law at George Mason University in the United States and holds the Chair in Research Innovation at Católica Global Law School.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Nova University Lisbon, holds a Master's degree in Economics and Law (LL.M.) from the University of London and a PhD in Economics from the University of York, UK.
He joined the Executive Board of the American Society for Comparative Law (2021-2023), after having chaired the Spanish Association of Law and Economics between 2017 and 2021. He has taught at Texas A&M University (2015-2018), the University of Illinois (2007-2015), Nova University Lisbon (2001-2007) and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (1998-2001).
He was awarded the Julián Marías prize by the government of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in 2010. He has written more than 150 scientific articles published in international journals.
He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos between 2014 and 2016 and has been a member of its Board of Trustees since 2018.

Last updated: January 2024

Full professor of Medical Ethics at the University of Lisbon School of Medicine and obstetrician and gynaecologist at Santa Maria Hospital. He was the first elected president of the National Council for Ethics in Life Sciences (2009-2015), he is coordinator of three projects on sexual and reproductive health in the European Union (2003-2010) and was elected vice-president of the Bioethics department of the Council of Europe (2018-2019). He has published very widely on bioethics issues.

Holder of the Henry Semat Chair in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York, he has taught at CUNY School, Harvard and Princeton for several decades. He has specialised in Einstein's unified field theory (which he has been trying to complete) and in predicting trends in business, medicine, financial dynamics and our way of life in general. Co-author of string theory, Kaku's greatest ambition is to make Einstein's dream come true: to find a «theory of everything» that encapsulates all the physical laws of the universe. His many books include «The Future of Humanity», «Cyberspace», «The Future of the Mind», «The Physics of the Future» and «The Physics of the Impossible», all of which have been huge commercial successes . He regularly participates in television programmes and moderates science programmes on television and radio. The public face of the Science Channel, Michio Kaku also presented the BBC’s Visions of the Future, a documentary about the future of science, and a 12-part science series based on his best-selling book «The Physics of the Impossible», as well as regularly appearing on Fox News programmes. His articles have appeared in Time, New Scientist Magazine, Wired Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post.

She was born in Angola on 10 June 1957. She got her PhD in Law (Constitutional Law) at the University of Lisbon School of Law.
She was minister of Home Affairs (2025-2026), an ombudswoman and professor at the Nova School of Law in Lisbon, with aggregation in legal and political sciences.
She has devoted her teaching and research career to the areas of constitutional law. She also teaches subjects such as comparative public law, fundamental rights and constitutional justice.
She was a judge in the Constitutional Court between April 2007 and July 2016, an institution of which she was vice-president between October 2012 and July 2016.
A member of several international scientific associations (including the Ibero-American Institute of Constitutional Law and the International Association of Constitutional Law), she has written a number of various works on her area of expertise since 1984.

Last updated: February 2026

He has been Director General of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) since 1 September 2014. He is Professor of Nanotechnology at Lund University, Sweden, and founder of several Swedish companies working with nanotechnology. He is also President of the International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique and Applications (IUVSTA), which has more than 150,000 members from 32 countries. He is a member of the EC Executive High Level Group (HLG) at DG NMPB and Chairman of the Working Group of two European Technology Platforms: NANOFutures (European initiative for sustainable development through nanotechnologies) and EuMat (European platform for advanced engineering materials and technologies). Between 2003 and 2009, he was Dean of the Physics Department, Science and Engineering Faculties at Lund University and, between 2009 and 2011, he was director for the Öresund University and Öresund Science Region (ÖSR) initiative, a cross-border cooperation initiative between 11 universities and three regional authorities from two countries in the Öresund Region. He was Chairman of the Swedish Committee for Technical Standardisation in Nanotechnology from 2007 to 2014 and has written around 300 indexed international publications.

Last updated: October 2021

A journalist, he was Director of News at RTP and TVI, simultaneously editing and presenting Telejornal (RTP) and Jornal das 8 (TVI). He began his career in radio and, in 1992, was part of the team that founded the first private television station in Portugal, SIC, where he presented Jornal da Noite. He taught at the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social and co-coordinated the Postgraduate Course in Journalism at ISCTE/Media Capital. At the invitation of the President of the Republic, he inaugurated the programme «Journalists in Belém Palace» in 2018.