Team

Fausto Freire is Associate Professor at UC, with research and teaching on life-cycle based approaches, and Circular Economy systems to enhance the sustainability of products and systems. Member and co-founder of the coordination committee of the Energy for Sustainability initiative at UC. Faculty at the MIT-Portugal program and MIT visiting Scholar (2010-2012, several months). Fulbright Scholar at the University of Michigan in 2008. Member of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (treasurer and council member in 2012-2013). Prof. Freire has studied and coordinated several large projects on products, industrial and energy systems, and supervised 15 PhD thesis. Evaluator for H2020 projects, Fulbright Foundation, European Science Foundation, A3ES. Senior member and expert in Energy of the Portuguese Engineers Association. Member of the Editorial Board of Sustainability, MDPI. Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cleaner Environmental Systems (2020- ), Elsevier. He has +3000 citations in Scopus, with an h-index=27.

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Carla Rodrigues holds a Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy Systems (MIT-Portugal Program, University of Coimbra, 2017), a Master in Energy for Sustainability with a focus in Energy in Buildings and Urban Environment (University of Coimbra, 2013), and a first degree in Architecture (University of Coimbra, 2008). She was also a visiting researcher at MIT for a year. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in several R&D projects at ADAI/LAETA and at University of Coimbra (UC) and an Invited Assistant Professor at UC. She is a Member of the Committee for Pedagogical and Academic Affairs (CAPA) of the Energy for Sustainability Initiative at the UC.

Research fields: life-cycle environmental and cost assessment of buildings and other products and systems, extended life-cycle assessment approaches, statistically-based methods, uncertainty analysis, operational energy modeling, multi-criteria decision analysis, and environmental certification of buildings.

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Carlos Ferreira holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (University of Coimbra, 2017) and a MSc in Environmental Engineering (University of Coimbra, 2010). He is currently a post-doctoral researcher on the project ReNATURE (valorisation of biomass residues), and participates in different STO-NATO programs as a Technical Team member.

Research areas: Life-Cycle Assessment of military activities; Industrial Ecology; Demilitarisation technologies; Valorisation of residues; Biomass valorisation; USEtox toxicological impact; REACH regulation.

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Fabiana Bassani holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering (University of Coimbra, 2023), a Masters in Urban Engineering (State University of Maringá, 2010), and a degree in Environmental Technology (Federal Technological University of Paraná, 2007). She is a researcher at ADAI/LAETA and Associate Professor at the Federal Institute of Education Science and Technology of Pará.

Research area: ecological design (eco-design); environmental life cycle assessment; packaging

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Jade Müller Carneiro holds a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Coimbra. She is currently a doctoral researcher within the H2020 WallNUT project. She was a research fellow at the Center for Industrial Ecology/ADAI, where she works on ex-ante Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of new biopolymers. She holds a master's degree in Energy for Sustainability from the University of Coimbra and a bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering from the Federal University of Ceará (Fortaleza, Brazil). She completed an internship at the Nestlé Research Center (Lausanne, Switzerland) in eco-design of food and packaging and at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in LCA of cropping systems.

Research areas: Prospective LCA; Eco-design/LCA of Packaging, Bioproducts, Food; Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA); bio-based technologies.

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João Malça holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Life cycle modeling of biofuel systems under uncertainty, 2011), a MSc in Heat Transfer (2000) and a Mechanical Engineering degree (Thermodynamics and Fluids, 1997) from the University of Coimbra (UC). More recently, Malça has completed a master´s degree in Building Rehabilitation (UC, 2018). He has been involved in several R&D projects at ADAI/LAETA and the University of Coimbra. In the past, he was a visiting researcher at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA, Paris, 2002). Malça has over twenty-five years of teaching experience in the Dept of Mechanical Engineering of the Polytechnic of Coimbra (DEM, PIC), in master's and bachelor's degree programs in the areas of energy, environment, and air conditioning and refrigeration. He regularly accumulates his teaching and research activities with academic management positions at DEM, PIC (Executive Director, Scientific Committee Chair, Course Coordinator, among others).

Research interests: Sustainability assessment of (bio)energy systems, life cycle assessment, industrial ecology, ecodesign, hygrothermal performance of buildings.

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Ana Cordeiro holds a master's degree in environmental engineering (Universidade de Coimbra, 2023). She is currently working on her master's thesis on the life cycle assessment of nutrient recycling technologies within the WalNUT European project at the Center for Industrial Ecology.

Research areas: Life cycle assessment, wastewater, nutrient recovery

Antero Pires holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering (University of Coimbra, 2025), with a specialization in Sustainable Technology and Industry, and is a research grant holder at the Centre for Industrial Ecology/ADAI. He is currently collaborating on a research project related to Life Cycle Assessment (ESCIB – Developing environmental sustainability and circularity assessment methodologies for industrial bio-based systems).

Research interests: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Sustainability, Waste Management.

Carlos Arias is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Coimbra and a research fellow at the Center for industrial ecology/ADAI-LAETA. He is currently working on two research projects associated with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-Design of plastic products in the automotive and pharmaceutical packaging industries. He holds a master's degree in Energy for Sustainability from the University de Coimbra and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Industrial University of Santander (Bucaramanga, Colombia).

Research fields environmental life cycle assessment of plastic products in the pharmaceutical and automotive sector, and use of agroindustry waste through thermochemical conversion and production of biocomposites materials.

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Érika Barrak has a Master's Degree in Energy Engineering (Federal University of Itajubá, Brazil) with a focus on electricity generation through urban solid waste incineration plants and through biogas generated in landfills, and a degree in Mechanical Engineering (Federal University from Itajubá, Brazil). She is currently a Ph.D. student in Sustainable Energy Systems at the Center for Industrial Ecology and a researcher in a SET-LCA project. Research area: Life cycle assessment of products that incorporate waste, circular economy, multi-criteria analysis.

Research field: Life cycle assessment of products that incorporate waste, circular economy, multi-criteria analysis.

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Mariana Gonçalves holds an Integrated Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering (University of Coimbra, 2019). She is currently a Ph.D. student in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Coimbra and a collaborator in several projects at the Center for Industrial Ecology, ADAI-LAETA.

Research area: Material flow analysis; Life cycle assessment; Circular economy; biomass; Waste Management; plastics

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Md Rubel is a Ph.D. candidate in Sustainable Energy Systems at UC. His current research involves collaborating with WalNUT UC teams on "Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of nutrient recovery from wastewater". Md Rubel earned his Master's degree with an Erasmus scholarship in the Functional Advanced Materials and Engineering (FAME+) program from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. The first year of this master's program was at the Grenoble Institute of Technology, France. He also has a Master's degree in physical inorganic chemistry from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and a Bachelor's degree in chemistry from Cumilla University, Bangladesh.

Research area: Nanochemistry, Polymer composites, Functional materials, Life cycle modeling and assessment, circular economy, Energy planning and Techno-economic analysis of wastewater treatment for nutrient recovery.

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Zulfiqar Ali is a Ph.D. student in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Coimbra. He holds a master degree in Thermal Energy Engineering from NUST, Pakistan. Previously, he did his bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering from GIK Institute of Engineering, Pakistan.

Research area: Prospective LCA; LCA of Emerging technologies and Bio-based products, Energy Policy

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Roland Clift is an Emeritus Professor of Environmental Technology and founding Director of the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey; previously Head of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Surrey; Visiting Professor in Environmental System Analysis at Chalmers University, Göteborg, Sweden; Adjunct Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; past President and Executive Director of the International Society for Industrial Ecology; past member of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Ecolabelling Board and Science Advisory Council of the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Prof. Clift’s research is concerned with system approaches to environmental management and industrial ecology, including life cycle assessment and energy systems. He visited the University of Coimbra as invited Professor of the Energy for Sustainability Initiative in April 2014, and March and November 2015, and collaborated in several research projects with CIE-UC.

Research field: Environmental System Analysis, including Life Cycle Assessment, Industrial Ecology, and Sustainable Energy Systems; Bioenergy; Sustainable Supply Chains; Engineering Ethics.

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Stuart Batterman is a Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan (UM) School of Public Health. He also holds or has held appointments in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UM, the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. He has a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been engaged in occupational and environmental research, teaching, and service for over 25 years, including serving as an associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering, and the Journal of Environment and Public Health. He is currently the Director of the UM Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering. He was a Fulbright Visiting Professor to the University of Coimbra (May-August 2012).

Research field: Air quality and air pollution control engineering, environmental impact and risk analysis, exposure assessment, emerging contaminants, hazardous waste management, and environmental epidemiology.

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Dr. Rodrigo Salvador is an Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Denmark working within the topics of Life Cycle Engineering and Circular Bioeconomy, exploring how
these can accelerate sustainability transitions. His research focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA), absolute sustainability and planetary boundaries, circular (bio)economy,
and circular business models. Rodrigo is actively involved in European and Danish national projects within the aforementioned themes. Rodrigo is also an associate editor for the
journals Sustainable Production and Consumption, and Circular Economy and Sustainability. Stemming from a long-term connection with associate prof. Fausto Freire, Rodrigo visited the University of Coimbra and the Centre for Industrial Ecology seeking to strengthen ties with the centre, identifying common research topics and opportunities for collaboration in research and funding.

Research area/interests: Life cycle assessment, Bioeconomy, Circular economy, Absolute sustainability, Planetary boundaries, Multi-criteria decision analysis.

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