Team

Rui Ferreira obtained his Master’s Degree (MSc) in Environmental Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) in 2012. Rui conducted his Master's thesis at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Netherlands. In 2017, he finished his PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at FEUP. Rui is currently a researcher at the Transport Phenomena Research Center (CEFT). His research activities focus on fuel cells and electrolyzers, mostly on the design and experimental characterization of PEM technologies, and he also has experience in the development of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. Rui has published 16 articles in international journals and 2 book chapters, organized 4 events, and co-supervised 2 PhD theses (one ongoing). He has also supervised 4 MSc dissertations and co-supervised 4 others. He participates or has participated in 18 research projects. Rui has also been collaborating, since 2014, in teaching activities as an Invited Assistant Professor at FEUP, in the disciplines of Fluid Mechanics and Transport Phenomena for the Bioengineering course.

Raquel Pinto Rocha graduated in Chemical Engineering in 2007 by Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, where she also concluded her Master’s degree focused on energy optimization in the chemical industry in 2009. In 2010 she integrated the Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM and had been researcher in two international projects related to the development of carbon-based catalysts for environmental applications and in another national project for gaseous treatment of VOCs by oxidation. She has also collaborated in the characterization of carbon catalysts for energy conversion with other Research groups. In 2013, she earned a Fundacão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) doctoral grant and started her PhD studies at LSRE-LCM on the development of “Carbon Catalysts for Liquid Phase Reactions”. In 2018, she concluded her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering at FEUP and since then she has been working as a Post-doc Researcher in the development of new characterization techniques of carbon materials characterization by model-reactions.

Cidália Botelho graduated in Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) in 1987 and joined the Department of Chemical Engineering of FEUP as Teaching Assistant in 1988. In 1992 she obtained her Master degree, in the area of Chemical Engineering - Applied Chemistry, from IST-Lisboa. In 1991 she developed part of her master dissertation at EAWAG-ETH in Switzerland. She obtained her Ph.D degree in the area of Speciation of Metals in Surface Waters from FEUP in 1998. From 1998 she pursues her teaching and research career at FEUP and LSRE-LCM.

Vânia Oliveira obtained her PhD degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2009 at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), and since then she has worked as a researcher in the energy field, including chemical and biological fuel cells, in CEFT (Transport Phenomena Research Centre) at FEUP. She has a permanent position as an assistant researcher at FEUP and is a professor of physics, renewable energies II, and mass transfer in the Chemical Engineering Department. Her research activity aims at the development and optimisation of fuel cells towards its commercialisation, using both experimental and modelling studies, including advanced modelling (2D and 3D models). She has been a team member of several national and European projects in her area of specialisation, being the project leader in one of them, NewPortCell, which aimed at the development of an alcohol fuel cell (methanol) as an alternative to lithium batteries for portable applications. She is involved in the supervision of master's, doctoral, and post-doctoral students and fellow researchers and in different dissemination activities, such as attendance at international and national conferences, seminars, and workshops and organising scientific conferences and other diffusion events.

Vasco Lopes obtained his Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering in 2023 and his Master's degree in Chemical Engineering in 2024 at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). He is currently a Researcher at FEUP, working on hydrogen-related technologies, with a particular focus on anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers. He previously participated in the Hi-Mov project, which aimed to supply energy to a drone using fuel cell technology. He is currently involved in the AEMWEtoGreenH₂ project, focused on the development of AEM electrolyzers. He is co-author of the scientific publication “Performance evaluation of membranes and electrodes for anion exchange membrane electrolysis”, published in the Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry (Volume 999, 2025, 119602).