The NUCLIO team

Rosa Doran

Rosa Doran

President of the Executive Council of NUCLIO

Rosa Doran is one of the founders of NUCLIO and she is also Chair of the Galileo Teacher Training Program, Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the Global Hands-on Universe Association, Chair of the Portuguese Language Office of Astronomy for Development and Chair of the COSPAR Education Panel.
Since her childhood, she has been fascinated by astronomy and the wonders of the Universe, which led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Physics and study Black Holes. She received a PhD on Science Education from the University of Coimbra, and she is an expert in teacher training and innovation in education.
Rosa is also a passionate and inspiring science communicator who embraces the goal of making this world a better place through an inclusive education with no boundaries of any kind.

Carlos Antunes Santos

Carlos Antunes Santos

President of the Permanent Council of NUCLIO

Carlos Santos is one of the founders of NUCLIO and a certified teacher trainer.
He has been fascinated by science and the Universe since his childhood. He has a MSc in Astrophysics and studied the interstellar medium and star formation. He is also a specialist in Information Technologies and is responsible for the maintenance of NUCLIO websites. He loves to observe the sky and you will often find him randomly looking at the stars, making silent but complex scientific arguments! He handles telescopes with ease and owns an infinite patience to answer any questions about science and astronomy.

Priscila Doran

Priscila Doran

Project coordinator at NUCLIO and co-founder of the NUCLIO Trust

Priscila is a certified trainer, with a MSc degree in Biology and a post-graduation in Psychology of Education. She is fascinated by the behaviour of living creatures, especially humans. She is the educational psychology consultant at NUCLIO and coordinates the Maker Space “Change Makers”. She believes that education is a fundamental pillar for the future and dreams of a positive and inclusive education in which every human being finds the necessary ingredients to grow. She loves all forms of art, coordinating interdisciplinary projects where art connects to science, believes in a fair and equitable pedagogical assessment, and collaborates in the creative design of NUCLIO’s dissemination material.

Maria Luísa Almeida

Maria Luísa Almeida

Coordinator of the NUCLIO Teacher Training Centre

Maria Luísa is one of the founding members of NUCLIO. She has extensive experience in teacher training, participates as coordinator and as content developer of many of our projects, and coordinates many of NUCLIO’s astronomy outreach activities. She has a MSc degree in Physics, in the field of Nuclear Physics/Astrophysics, and she taught Mathematics and Physics in Higher Education for many years. Besides her passion for astronomy, education has grown on her. She aims an inclusive school, open to the community, where students learn eagerly and teachers teach with love.

Ana Costa

Ana Costa

Project coordinator and public relations at NUCLIO

Ana Costa is a key element in any event organised by NUCLIO. Whether it is a teacher training course or a big festival, she communicates with every single participant and makes all the necessary arrangements. It is no surprise that in any given event she is the one person everybody knows and everybody compliments. Ana coordinates the asteroid campaigns of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) for NUCLIO. She is also a retired Physics and Chemistry teacher, and she has two degrees, one in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry and the other in Chemistry Education.

Gustavo Rojas

Gustavo Rojas

Project coordinator and astronomy outreach expert at NUCLIO

Gustavo is a Science Teaching expert and also a great astronomy communicator, having actively participated in science outreach actions, as a presenter and consultant for scientific shows and events. He is part of the organising committee of the Olympiads of Astronomy in Portugal, and was the Brazilian representative for the network of science outreach of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). He has a bachelor’s degree in Physics and a MSc and a PhD in Astronomy. He believes that astronomy plays a fundamental role for humanity, both at intellectual and emotional levels. After all, realising how small we are in the cosmic perspective does leave a mark on us!

Sara Anjos

Sara Anjos

Project coordinator at NUCLIO

Sara has a university degree in Astronomy, an MSc in Science Education and is currently doing her PhD. Her research interests focus on Science-Technology-Society Studies, particularly, public engagement with astronomy. She is an active member of several research groups related to science and education, collaborates with PLOAD, is the national representative of E-ROAD (European Centre for Astronomy for Development) and co-chair of the Inclusion and Diversity Working Group of the European Astronomical Society. Sara specialises in training activities, for children and adults, and in designing strategic plans to improve the quality of learning.

Leonor Cabral

Leonor Cabral

Content and teaching material creator at NUCLIO

Leonor is one of the most creative members of NUCLIO and she has many great ideas for the teaching of science. She has a bachelor’s in Physics and a MSc in Astronomy teaching, and she is a trainer and an outreach expert at NUCLIO. She is also a retired teacher of Physics and Chemistry. A few years back, you could enter her class and see an enormous shape representing just one bit of the Sun and all the planets in its orbit in their real scale. And this is just one small sample of all the amazing things she can create!

José Saraiva

José Saraiva

Content creator and developer at NUCLIO

José Saraiva has a bachelor’s degree in Geology and a MSc in Geo-resources. He’s our expert in Martian geology, and he is always up to date with the latest news from Mars. He has been the source of many of the great articles at Portal do Astrónomo and he always has ideas for new texts, as well as for lectures and exhibitions. He also translates fiction, and he loves books, cinema and listening to music. He is always in a good mood and has a keen critical thinking and lots of imagination. He dreams of meteorites and craters, but when he is awake, he aims to contribute with his work and ideas to a more conscious and informed society through education.

Teresa Direitinho

Teresa Direitinho

Editorial coordinator at NUCLIO

Teresa studied Geophysical Sciences and had training in IT system’s analysis, developing an interest in Multimedia. She was a training coordinator in Design and Multimedia and worked with ReadSpeaker’s computational linguistics team giving support for Portuguese language. She is editorial coordinator at NUCLIO, being responsible for press releases, news, social media, and the content and design of many of our official websites (including this one). She supports the translation into Portuguese of content from NUCLIO projects, coordinates Portal do Astrónomo website, and translates its news. She also collaborates in the design of communication material. She loves travelling and is passionate about reading and writing. She has already published 2 books (novel and short stories) and has a third on the way!

Álvaro Folhas

Álvaro Folhas

Content developer and outreach expert at NUCLIO

Álvaro is passionate about astronomy and an excellent communicator. He is a Physics teacher, the coordinator of a science club and a pioneer in innovative education. He has a MSc in Physics Teaching and is currently working on a PhD in Educational Sciences. Álvaro combines science and music by composing songs on school subjects as a way of capturing students’ attention and increasing their knowledge retention. He has also done an excellent job in creating videos and other teaching and dissemination material. His dream is to see a world where new generations are drawn to science, to form an informed society with humanitarian values and respect for the planet. He believes that astronomy may be a key part of this, awakening in us a sense of wonder for the Universe surrounding us.

Lúcia Folhas

Lúcia Folhas

NUCLIO collaborator

Lúcia collaborates with NUCLIO and has an extremely important role in content management. She is our key translator, helping to develop educational resources for almost all our projects. She is also helping to create the NUCLIO resource repository, which will be ready soon. Lúcia dreams of an informed and educated 21st century, working in all possible levels to support NUCLIO’s mission: a world without boundaries or limits to education and where science literacy and critical thinking are part of human life.

José Gonçalves

José Gonçalves

Content developer at NUCLIO

José Gonçalves has a degree in Physics and a MSc degree in the Teaching of Physics, and is currently doing a PhD in Science Outreach and Teaching. He is also a Physics and Chemistry teacher and always has fun ways to engage his students, often starting his classes by playing a game so students can analyse related maths and physics. He is never short of ideas on how to innovate in science education, collaborating with NUCLIO in the development of content for projects. He loves taking pictures, especially selfies, and this is the reason why the NUCLIO team has so many selfies in the events he participates in!

Nelson Correia

Nelson Correia

Project coordinator at NUCLIO

Nelson is a content developer at NUCLIO and the coordinator of the Dark Skies Rangers project, that aims to raise awareness about light pollution among the educational community and local communities. He is also a Physics and Chemistry teacher and a teacher trainer in the fields of physics, chemistry, and innovation in education. In his school he also coordinates the Eco-Schools, Erasmus+ and LabMaker projects. Nelson has a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a MSc in Sanitary Engineering. He loves astronomy and watching the night sky, but he is also a man of many passions. You can spend hours talking to him about science, music, travelling and many other interesting themes!

Joana Latas

Joana Latas

Project coordinator at NUCLIO

Joana holds a PhD in History of Sciences and Scientific Education from the Univ. of Coimbra, a master’s degree in Educational Sciences and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Univ. of Évora. She is a mathematics teacher, a researcher at the Center for Research in Education and Psychology of the Univ. of Évora (CIEP-UE) and a certified trainer. Her extensive experience in educational innovation and science communication projects in Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, and S. Tomé and Príncipe woke her up to the social and cultural perspectives of mathematics, which she brings into the classroom at various levels of education. At NUCLIO, besides being a project coordinator, she develops educational resources that blend science and culture. She coordinates PLOAD and represents us at the Sundy Science Space Association, having been at the birth of the first dedicated non-formal science education facility on Príncipe.

David Sousa

David Sousa

Project developer at NUCLIO

Bachelor’s degree in Physics and master’s degree in Cognitive Science, finishing a second master’s degree in Anthropology, David is a researcher in biophysics, psychology, social cognition, and anthropology. He has a vast experience in education as a tutor of Maths, Physics and Chemistry. He coordinates projects in the field of innovative education as part of the NUCLIO team, with a special interest in the field of humanities, particularly in philosophy and environmental and human ecology. He believes that the purpose of education, as a means for personal and social development, lies essentially on the hope and wish to live in a more just and harmonious society for all beings.

Vinícius Oliveira

Vinícius Oliveira

Project coordinator at NUCLIO

Vinicius has a PhD in Physics in the area of Astronomy and Astrophysics, with extensive teaching experience in Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics from secondary school to master’s degree. He also has observational experience, both in spectroscopy and photometry, in several professional astronomical observatories, in addition to science communication observations. Vinicius hosts a scientific debate podcast and is a member of NUCLIO, working in several projects, highlighting PLOAD and Change Makers. He is also an active member of the IAU, participating in education and scientific dissemination committees. In his personal and professional experience, Vinicius realised that education is the strongest basis for personal and society development.

Joana M. da Silva

Joana M. da Silva

Communication coordinator at NUCLIO

Joana started out as our intern and is now communication coordinator at NUCLIO. She is responsible for creating the communication material, also collaborating on its design, as well as the dissemination plans of some projects, the design of newsletters, and the social media content. She also collaborates in translating content into English. Joana is a biologist with an MSc in Ecology, focusing mainly on pollution and marine environments. She is currently finishing a second master’s degree in Science Communication and is part of several science communication initiatives, such as Pint of Science. Despite her scientific roots, she is also interested in art, especially design and photography.

Mário Ramos

Mário Ramos

Accountant and astronomy outreach expert at NUCLIO

Mario is our accountant and a fabulous amateur astronomer who brings the night sky and the Sun closer to the public. He has a deep understanding of the sky and of handling telescopes for observation, and you can find him at almost all NUCLIO astronomy events, pointing to the sky and explaining every interesting detail. Mário is a retired military with multiple courses on the Military scope. He is passionate about the Sun and total solar eclipses and he dreams of observing the stars, studying the Universe, learning from the past and being able to contribute to the construction of a better future to all.

Juliana Gongora

Juliana Gongora

NUCLIO collaborator

Juliana is a publicist and is doing a postgraduate degree in Project Management. She makes an effort to give visibility to scientists and relevant projects by connecting them to companies and events. Thus, she has been working on public relations for NUCLIO, trying to engage big companies with our projects and activities. Juliana is a visionary and her head is full of fantastic ideas. She dreams of traveling the world and has the purpose of making a link between society and science so that every single human can have access to it.