Ana Paula Pêgo becomes the first career researcher in the Vice-Rectorate of the University of Porto
i3S researcher Ana Paula Pêgo will join the Rector’s Team of the University of Porto (U.Porto) for the 2026–2030 term, taking on the role of Vice-Rector responsible for Research and Knowledge Valorisation. The inauguration ceremony is scheduled for 22 June, in the Grand Auditorium of the Abel Salazar Building, during the event in which Pedro Nuno Teixeira will be sworn in as the 21st Rector of U.Porto.
With this appointment, Ana Paula Pêgo becomes the first career researcher to assume the role of Vice-Rector in the history of U.Porto. “It is, for me, both a great honour and an added responsibility. I see this moment above all as a sign of the growing recognition of research and its stakeholders within the university context,” she states.
The new Vice-Rector highlights that her scientific and academic career, closely linked to i3S and to bioengineering teaching at U.Porto, has provided her with a deep understanding of the challenges faced by research teams and of the enormous potential that can be achieved when science, innovation and knowledge valorisation are effectively coordinated across different areas and units of the university.
“I believe there is a clear opportunity to strengthen these areas within U.Porto, both internally, by creating better conditions and greater recognition for research activity, and externally, by reinforcing links with society, industry and public policy,” she notes.
The researcher adds that she hopes to help consolidate the institution’s international positioning: “I aim to contribute to a University of Porto that is even more capable of transforming knowledge into value and relevance, strengthening its status as an international reference.”
In addition to Ana Paula Pêgo, the Rector’s Team for the 2026–2030 term will include Vice-Rectors Alípio Jorge, responsible for Digital Infrastructure and Digital Transformation; António Topa Gomes, in charge of Built Heritage and Sustainability; Fernando Remião, for Teaching and Learning; Guilhermina Rêgo, for Well-being and Institutional Quality; Joana Resende, for Internationalisation and Strategic Planning; and José Varejão, for Culture and Relations with Society.
About Ana Paula Pêgo
Internationally recognised for her work in the field of biomaterials and nerve regeneration, Ana Paula Pêgo currently leads the NanoBiomaterials for Targeted Therapies group at i3S and is part of the institute’s leadership, where she is responsible for Strategy and Value Creation. She is also an Associate Professor at the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS).
Throughout her career, she has distinguished herself through the development of nanoscale biomaterials for tissue regeneration and repair, research that has earned her several national and international awards, including the Prémio Santa Casa Neurociências/Prémio Melo e Castro in 2015 and the Prémio Albino Aroso in 2016.
Last year, she secured funding of one million euros through the “la Caixa” Foundation Health Research call to study how astrocytes can counteract brain damage in neurological diseases such as stroke, epilepsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
She also leads a project recently funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (USA) and is involved in a second project approved by the same body in collaboration with teams from Texas A&M University.
The researcher also plays a prominent role in several international scientific organisations. Since 2015, she has been a member of the Council of the European Society for Biomaterials, of which she served as President between 2021 and 2023 and is currently President ex officio. She is an Associate Editor of the journal Biomaterials and was a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of the journal Science between 2021 and 2024, two of the most prestigious scientific publications in her field.
She holds a degree in Food Engineering from the School of Biotechnology of the Portuguese Catholic University and completed her PhD in polymer chemistry and biomaterials at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands. After a period of research at the Brain Institute in Amsterdam, she joined INEB in 2003, a path that would culminate, a decade later, in leading one of the research groups now integrated into i3S.
