Degree in History from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon, Master in History of the 19th and 20th centuries from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Doctor in Modern Political and Institutional History and Aggregate in the History Group, Discipline of History Institutional and Modern Politics, by the same Faculty.
He was Coordinating Professor with Aggregation at the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo where he was part of the General Council as an elected member. President of the Scientific Council of the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa between 2010 and 2016.
He is currently a Full Professor at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa where he is a member of the Scientific Council and a member of the panel of grant evaluators (History and Archeology) of the Foundation for Science and Technology (2008/2013).
He held several public positions, notably that of Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance (1997-2000), in the ministry of Sousa Franco, being responsible for installing the Central Library and the Contemporary Archive of the Ministry of Finance.
He was a member of the Commission for the Reform and Reinstallation of the National Archive of Torre do Tombo and Director of Services of the Portuguese Institute of Archives (1990-1992) and of the Commissions for the Promotion of the Museum of Coin and Medal, Regulation of Common Structures of Tax Organizations and the Institute for Fiscal Training (1999-2001), created by resolution of the Council of Ministers.
He was National Coordinator of the Accreditation Commission and member of the Board of the National Institute for Accreditation of Teacher Training in the ministry of Marçal Grilo.
He has several individual and collective publications. In the former, the books on O Desembargo do Paço (1750-1833), Ediual, 1996, The Ministry of Finance (1801-1996), Cabinet of the Minister, 1996, The Chamber of Viana do Minho at the End of the Old Regime stand out. (1750-1834), Câmara de Viana do Castelo, 1998, The Political Earthquake (1755-1759), Memória e Poder, Ediual, 2007, Dicionário dos Desembargadores (1640-1834), Ediual, 2010 and Actors, Territories and Networks of Poder, Between the Old Regime and Liberalism, Curitiba, Juruá Editora, 2011. On Mondays, the collaborations in vols. III and IV of História de Portugal, directed by José Mattoso, Círculo de Leitores, 1993-95; History of the University in Portugal, University of Coimbra and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1997; Economic History of Portugal, ICS of the University of Lisbon, 2005; From the Secretaries and State for Finance Affairs to the Ministers of Finance, Ministry of Finance, 2006; The 1755 Earthquake. Historic Impacts, Horizonte Books, 2007; and Disaster History and Science, Colibri, 2007.
He recently published Dicionário dos Desembargadores (1640-1823), Lisbon, Ediual, 2010 and two entries on the History of Institutions in the Dictionary of Portuguese Historians (National Library and Faculty of Letters). He was scientific coordinator of the DVD edition of the Portuguese Journalistic Dictionary by Xavier da Silva Pereira, Academia das Ciências and Grupo Impresa, 2009.
It also has about seven dozen articles published in magazines, in the country and abroad, and close to a hundred communications in colloquia, meetings and seminars. He received the Academic Merit Award from the Fernão de Magalhães Foundation in 1996 and 1997 and four public accolades.