Student Life in Lisbon

Dr. Gemma Gordon was previously an assistant researcher and then, since 2016, a doctoral researcher in Psychological Medicine in King's College London (KCL), and has taught on the BSc in Psychology at KCL and at the University of London (UoL). Prior to research in cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology, she completed an MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology at the London School of Economics (LSE). This has shaped her teaching ethos, which is based on a holistic approach to understanding the human mind and its development, paying attention to the impact of the environment and less visible social and cultural forces upon processes of human cognition. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and works as an assistant psychologist with the UK National Health Service (NHS).

Dr. Sara Santos is a mathematician by training (BSc University of Porto, 2001; PhD University of Manchester in 2005), an experienced university teacher at all levels with emphasis on communication of mathematical processes. Sara is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and is particularly committed to supporting all learners to achieve their personal best as part of a learning community. She is curious about Complex Instruction and group work, both face-to-face and online, and uses digital technology in teaching and learning, both for skill mastery and for deepening understanding of the subject. She authored and lead the online module Numerical Mathematics for the first online degree, the BSc Computer Science offered by University of London and hosted by Coursera.

Dr. Ruairidh Brown received his PhD from the University of St Andrews in 2017. Between 2017 and 2021, Ruairidh taught Politics and History in mainland China. His experience here focused on introducing predominantly Chinese students to the western Higher Education system for the first time. He was awarded the Lord Dearing Award by the University of Nottingham in 2019 for outstanding teaching, based on an immersive learning approach focusing on applying knowledge to debates, scenarios, and one’s physical surroundings. His academic interest lies in Political Philosophy. He published his first book, Political Encounters, in 2019 on the subject of obligations. He is currently writing a second book which examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on political norms.

Dr. Tatyana Zhuravleva was born in Moscow and studied Economics at the Moscow State University before moving to Toulouse, where she obtained an Msc in Economics (2010) and a PhD in Economics (2013) from the Toulouse School of Economics. After teaching at Toulouse she joined the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, where she worked for the Russian government, focusing on the efficiency of the public sector. In 2017, she was awarded a prestigious Max Weber fellowship at the European University Institute in Florence, and in 2018 she was appointed as assistant professor at the Higher School of Economics in St Petersburg.

Dr. Marina Pérez de Arcos has taught International Relations (IR) and Politics for eight years at the University of Oxford and four years at the London School of Economics, where she won a Best Teacher Award. She was the first Hispanic Research Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford, co-founder and Coordinator of Spanish Studies at Oxford, and co-founder of the Global Thinkers Project to promote diversity in the discipline of IR. She has published in La Revista de Occidente, Hispanic Research Journal, Atlantisch Perspectief, Bulletin of Spanish Studies, and Letra Internacional. Her research interests lie in Transatlantic Relations, European Integration and Cold War History, and International Organisations. She has held Fellowships at Humboldt University Berlin, Nova Lisbon, and Sciences Po Paris. Marina earned her DPhil (PhD) and MPhil in International Relations at Oxford, and a BA in History and Economics at the University of York. She is a polyglot, a passionate teacher, and has policy experience at municipal, ministerial and presidential levels in France, Britain, and Spain.

Dr. Bernardo Melo Pimentel holds a PhD in Management with a specialisation in Entrepreneurship from Nova SBE. He teaches undergraduate, master/executive, and doctoral level programs at the University of Lisbon, Nova SBE, and Audencia Business School. Before joining Forward, Bernardo held Fellowships at Instituto Superior Técnico Politécnico de Leiria, and Vlerick Business School. Bernardo has co-authored a handbook in Operations Management and his research has been published in Portuguese and international outlets. His most recent contributions study the attractiveness of symbolic capital in cultural organisations. Bernardo’s teaching approach emphasises the acquisition and consolidation of hard- and soft-skills through the development of critical thinking.

Nabila Alibhai qualified early in public health at Yale University, has been a Research Fellow in MIT’s Special Programme in Urban and Regional Studies and is currently a member on its advisory board. She has worked on pandemic preparedness (with the United Nations System Influenza Coordinator) and on development (Aga Khan Development Network in Central Asia). More recently, she has worked in the USA and Eastern Africa to activate individuals to be creative, productive and connected, and with organizations to maximize their success and create positive impact through mixing arts, storytelling and community development. Nabila has extensive experience in developing platforms to foster communication among people from different cultural backgrounds and different fields of expertise.

Vera Herédia Colaço holds a PhD in management with a specialization in Marketing and Consumer Behavior from Nova SBE and a M.S. in Textile Marketing from Thomas Jefferson/ Philadelphia University. She has taught both in graduate and undergraduate programs. She has done research in the fields of ethical decision-making, sustainable consumption, and purpose-driven business and consumption. Prior to joining the academia, She worked for the textiles & apparel industry and has a solid international experience working with brands and start-ups such as, Timberland, the Benetton Group, the Trade Commission of Portugal in NYC, etc. She has a strong experience in establishing university-industry relations with such companies such as Aga Khan Foundation, Fundação Oceano Azul.

Dr. Carolina Escobar-Tello is a PhD in Sustainable Design and Happiness. As a multicultural agent of change, she has been lecturing at Loughborough University (UK) for more than a decade. She has been dedicated in achieving and maintaining excellence in research and education in the field of social innovation, service design, sustainable design, industrial design, global south studies, systemic thinking and creativity. Carolina has been committed to blend theory with design-led practice in order to find novel ideas that respond to complex global challenges. Repeated experiences in different sociocultural contexts have equipped her in developing empathic teaching and top-level tutoring in order to uncover grass-root opportunities that help people innovate and shape pluriverse futures.