Bio

All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts
William Shakespeare, 1623

I was born in Viana do Castelo—known as the Princess of Lima—in 1971, the year Intel introduced the first commercially available microprocessor, the Intel 4004; President Nixon’s economic policy marked the beggining of the end of the Bretton Woods system; and C. West Churchman published The Design of Inquiring Systems.

I completed my primary education (4 years) at Escola da Avenida, in Viana do Castelo, under the reliable and dynamic guidance of Professor Maria de Lurdes Marçal.

My preparatory studies (2 years) took place at Escola Frei Bartolomeu dos Mártires, in Viana do Castelo. I was fortunate to have dedicated professors who introduced their students to the diversity and beauty of various fields of knowledge.

My secondary studies (6 years) were carried out at Escola Secundária de Santa Maria Maior, commonly known as the Liceu of Viana do Castelo. Midway through, students selected a specialization area aligned with future career paths. I chose Applied Chemistry and was taught by Professor Carlos Gomes de Almeida, who had a lasting impact on my education. His challenging approach encouraged students to ‘‘go the extra mile’’ and engage with topics typically introduced in more advanced years. In the final year of high school, students selected three subjects based on personal interest and university requirements. I chose Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics.

When deciding on a university path, I considered three areas: Chemical Engineering, Physical Engineering, and Informatics. I ultimately chose Informatics as my first preference. In 1989, I moved to Braga to attend the Licenciatura Program (5 years) in Systems Engineering and Informatics at the University of Minho. This prestigious Program played a pivotal role in establishing the University of Minho as a leading institution among Portugal’s “New Universities” (founded in 1973, with its first academic year in 1975/76, shortly after the country’s transition to democracy).

The Systems Engineering and Informatics Program had a demanding and comprehensive syllabus, providing strong foundations in Informatics. By the end of the third year, I had gained extensive knowledge, but struggled to connect the variuos elements. This changed in the fourth year with the Data Processing course taught by Professor Luis Amaral. Suddenly, everything began to make sense: information, computers, enterprises, people manipulating information, ... I credit Professor Luis Amaral with inspiring me to choose Information Systems as my professional field.

From 1992 to 1993, I worked as a computer programmer at the Department of Manufacturing and Systems at the School of Engineering, University of Minho in Braga. I implemented numerous numerical methods, and the resulting programs were included in the book Numerical Computing, authored by Professor Edite Fernandes—who had also been my instructor in Numerical Methods and Applied Statistics during my third and fourth years.

I completed the Licenciatura in 1994, with an internship at IDITE-Minho (then the University of Minho’s interface with industry), in Braga, on the theme Information Systems Planning Workshops. The internship was supervised by Professor Luis Amaral, and the viva was examined by Professor Rui Dinis Sousa—who, years later, would become compagnon-de-route.

In 1994, I worked as an Information Systems Consultant at IDITE-Minho. I was responsible for training in methods, techniques, and tools for Information Systems development and implementation, and for consulting in the areas of Strategic Management and Information Systems.

After a brief collaboration with the company Andersen Consulting in Lisbon (Portugal), I became a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Informatics at the School of Engineering, University of Minho in Braga, in 1995.

In 1996, I signed a contract with the University of Minho as an Assistant Lecturer.

In 1999, I completed the Master’s Program in Informatics—Management Information Systems (2 years), at the University of Minho in Braga. My thesis, Information Systems Planning Results, was supervised by Professor Luis Amaral and examined by Professor António Dias de Figueiredo from University of Coimbra (Portugal).

After earning the Master’s degree, I was promoted to Lecturer in the newly established Department of Information Systems at the School of Engineering, University of Minho, in Guimarães (Portugal).

I then enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Information Systems and Technology—Knowledge Area of Engineering and Management of Information Systems (4 years), at the University of Minho in Guimarães. I had long been interested in security, recognizing that its challenges were not solely technological. Around that time, Professor Gupreet Dhillon, then at Virginia Commonwealth University (USA), visited the University of Minho and taught a postgraduate course on Information Systems Security. This encounter aligned our interests and led to a research collaboration. My dissertation, A Theory of Action Interpretation of Information Systems Security, was co-supervised by Professor Luis Amaral and Professor Gurpreet Dhillon. I earned my PhD in 2006, with external examiners Professor Mário Caldeira (University of Lisbon, Portugal) and Professor Paulo Rupino da Cunha (University of Coimbra, Portugal).

Upon completing my PhD, I was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2006.

During my doctoral studies, I began an ongoing dialogue about systems—and Information Systems in particular—with Professor João Álvaro Carvalho, one of the field’s founders at the University of Minho (along with Professor Luis Amaral and the late Professor Altamiro Machado). The conversation continues to this day and has become a deep and essential reflection on the nature of my field. Throughout our dialogue, Professor João Álvaro Carvalho instilled in me the importance of rigorously defining the concepts and terms we use to think and communicate—an indispensable foundation for honest and fruitful intellectual exchange.

In 2023, I was promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Minho.

Over the years, I have provided consulting services in Information Systems to a wide range of public and private enterprises. These include the Administrative Modernization Agency, AIM—Minho Industrial Association, Army’s Informatics Center, Department of Informatics of University of Minho, IDITE-Minho, J. Gomes—Construction Society of Cávado SA, Lisbon City Council, Order of Engineers, ROFER—Clothing Industry Ltda., Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Lisbon, SCD—Data Communication Consulting and Services SA, S.I.C.I. 93 BRAGA—Commercial and Industrial Investment Company Ltda., SIMAC II—Information Systems Ltda., Sporting Clube de Portugal, TARRATEX—Textiles Ltda., TICTEL Apparel Ltda., and Vila Nova de Gaia City Council.

I conduct research at Centro ALGORITMI, a research unit of the School of Engineering at the University of Minho. I am part of the ISTTOS—Information Systems and Technologies for Transformation of Organizations and Society lab within the IST—Information Systems and Technologies research group, focusing on IS Security, IS Auditing, and IS Governance and Management.