Plant-Soil Ecology - PSE

Gil Penha-Lopes

Researcher

Participatory action-research Community-led initiatives Nature-based solutions

I was born and still living in Lisbon, Portugal, I am currently a father of a 3 years old girl, and I enjoy sailing and gardening.

I graduated in 2004 on Marine Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (FCUL), with a training in aquaculture at Florida Institute of Technology (USA). In February 2009, I completed my PhD in Applied Ecology (Wastewater Wetlands) at FCUL in collaboration with Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In February 2009 I started a Post-Doc on ecosystem engineering modeling (in collaborating with Southern Denmark University) and in November 2011 I extended the focus of my Post-Doc topic into Integral Ecology, integrating cultural, socio-economic & policy dimensions. My intention was to find robust strategies that promote local sustainability and climate resilience, and I found CCIAM research group to best support and benefit from this research topic.

I participated in an European project to better understand local adaptation (BASE: www.base-adaptation.eu) and coordinated two Portuguese projects, one that aimed at elaborating Municipal Adaptation Strategies and promote local adaptation (ClimAdaPT.Local: www.climadapt-local.pt), and another one (CATALISE) on mapping and understanding local integral innovation (social, ecological and economical). Currently I am working on “Bio(re)Design of technological, ecological and social-economic systems at local scales to improve human wellbeing”

Since 2013 that I lecture on the Climate Change and Sustainable Developmental Policies Doctoral Program of Lisbon University and have recently founded an European platform of Community-led initiatives towards a Sustainable Europe (ECOLISE: www.ecolise.eu).