Member

Prior to working full time in the field of science communication, Antonio Gomes da Costa was a teacher and a researcher in the field of bioenergetics at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. In 1996 He received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from this same University, where he worked as associate professor till 2000.
In 2000 he was invited to work for the Ciencia Viva, the Portuguese National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture. Since then he has been actively involved in bringing together scientific institutions, politicians, companies and other local actors in several localities in Portugal in order to develop a network of science centres, now counting with 18 members throughout the national territory.
In 2001 he was appointed Head of Education of the Pavilion of Knowledge – Ciencia Viva and in August 2007 he was appointed Executive Director of this science centre. He occupied this position until November 2009, when he become an independent consultant in the field of science communication and informal learning.

A member of the Annual Conference Programme Committee of Ecsite since June 2006, Antonio Gomes da Costa was appointed as Chair of this same Committee in June 2009. He was active in promoting and launching the first Special Interest Group of Ecsite - THE Group, dedicated to explainers and the human interface in science centres and museums - and is a member of the Steering Committee.
In 2007 he was the Local Coordinator for the organisation of the Ecsite Annual Conference.

He was the Portuguese coordinator for several European projects in the area of Science in Society, namely for PULSE (Public Understanding of Life Sciences), PENCIL (Permanent European Resource Centre for Informal Learning), GAPP (Gender Awareness Participation Project) and also for the Lifelong Learning Project PILOTS (a project aiming at training and professionalizing science centre explainers). He is a member of the Editorial Board of JCom - Journal of Science Communication.