Miguel Ângelo Cerqueira

Miguel Cerqueira is a Research Scientist PI at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), where he leads research on bio-based and sustainable materials, advanced micro- and nanostructures, and innovative technologies for a healthier and more sustainable food system. He holds a PhD in Biological Engineering from the University of Minho (UM), where he received multiple merit awards during his studies. From 2005 to 2006, he worked as a researcher at the Federal University of Ceará (Brazil) within the Alfa-Valnatura Project. His PhD included short-term research missions at the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and University College Cork (Ireland), with work developed in Cork being selected as a finalist for the George Stewart International Research Paper Competition at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo 2009 (USA). He completed his PhD in 2010 and received the Award for Best PhD Thesis 2011 from the UM School of Engineering. From 2011 to 2016, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Minho in collaboration with the University of Vigo, focusing on the development and characterization of bio-based nanostructures for food applications. During this period, he gained extensive expertise in biodegradable films and coatings for food packaging, encapsulation of functional compounds using emerging technologies, and the development and characterization of emulgels, oleogels, and other structured systems for functional foods. Alongside his academic work, he also collaborated with food industry partners as a consultant. Since joining INL in 2016, Miguel has expanded his research to include bio-based micro- and nanosystems for diverse applications, sustainable packaging materials, and advanced delivery systems for food, nutraceutical, and biotechnology sectors. He has been principal investigator or team member in multiple national and international funded projects and industry collaborations, raising approximately 6 M€ in competitive funding and contracted research. Miguel has authored 145 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 27 book chapters, two patents, one book as author, and four edited books, totaling an h-index of 75. He has also contributed over 80 conference abstracts. Miguel has a strong track record in mentoring, currently supervising PhD and MSc students (PhDs: 5 ongoing and 6 finished; MSc: 3 ongoing and 21 MSc finished). He is also supervising 1 postdoctoral researcher and has supervised 4. His scientific excellence has been recognized internationally: in 2014 he received the Young Scientist Award from the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), and in 2018 he joined the prestigious list of Highly Cited Researchers published by Clarivate Analytics.