Get to know... António Fernandes

I have been part of CITAB since the start of my PhD, during which my work has focused on environmental data analysis, evolving toward climate and agricultural systems. 

I have a background in Environmental Engineering from FEUP and a PhD in Forestry and Agronomic Sciences from UTAD. During my PhD, I conducted research on water quality pollution sources, analysing and comparing point and diffuse sources of pollution, and exploring how these interact with landscape and environmental conditions. 

During this period, I contributed to the development of data-driven approaches to better understand cause–effect relationships between land use, contamination sources, and water quality. This included the application of multivariate modelling and spatial analysis, as well as the development of tools to support more systematic analysis of environmental datasets. After my PhD, I also studied soil quality in post-mining environments, focusing on contamination processes and their environmental implications with FEUP. 

In the last three years, my work has expanded into applied climatology through my involvement in the MONTEVITIS project and integration into the AppClim group at CITAB. In this context, I have worked with high-resolution climate datasets, including their processing and analysis, and contributed to studies assessing how climate variability and change affect crops such as grapevine and olive trees. This work also involved the calculation of bioclimatic indices and the development of agroclimatic suitability assessments across different regions. 

More recently, I have been involved in integrating these datasets and approaches into structured platforms, supporting the organisation and use of climate and environmental information within research projects. I have also joined the ReFOOD4North project to support agriculture in the northern region of Portugal in the context of climate change. 

Overall, my work at CITAB has been centred on handling complex environmental data, developing analytical approaches, and contributing to research that connects climate, agriculture, and environmental processes.