Completed the undergraduate studies and master degree at the University of Coimbra. D.Phil from the University of Oxford in 1989. Is presently full professor of Physics at the University of Coimbra and director of the Department of Physics of the University of Coimbra. My present interests focus on the understanding of neutron stars and determination of constraints on the equation of state of dense hadronic matter at both zero and finite temperature. I am particularly interested in study of exotic matter inside a neutron star, the pasta phase occuring in the inner crust, the effect of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on the star properties, the hadron-quark phase transition, the liquid-gas phase transition, the effect of ultra strong magnetic fields on the hadronic equation of state and the QCD phase diagram. I have been involved in the publication of books on science for children "Ciência a Brincar", as author and editor.