Graduated in Architecture and PhD in Urban, Territorial and Environmental Planning for the University of Florence (Italy), he is a senior researcher at the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, being part of the Working Group on Democracy, Citizenship and Law. Qualified in 2014 as an associate professor in Italy, he has been teaching Urban Management and Analysis of Territories and Settlements at the University of Florence. Currently, he is co-coordinator of the PhD “Democracy in the 21st century” at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC).

His main areas of research include citizen participation in the management of budgeting and territorial management, topics on which he has numerous publications in several languages. He also works on themes such as informal city and self-production of habitat, the right to the city, practices of ‘insurgent citizenship’ and cities’ networks on the international stage. Representative of Portugal at the COST Action “Constitution-making and deliberative democracy” (CA17135), is an active member of the Standing Group on “Democratic Innovations” at the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR), as well as of the Commission for Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights of UCLG and of the International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (OIDP).

Coordinator of several research projects that resulted in the organization and publication of books and scientific articles, he was also a trainer, consultant and evaluator of participatory processes in more than 50 countries in 5 continents, with contracts signed both with civic organizations and public administrations, and with international institutions such as the World Bank, UCLG, the European Commission and the Council of Europe. For the 2014-2019 mandate, he has been co-president of the Independent Authority for the Guarantee and the Promotion of Participation in the Tuscany Region (Italy).