Fernando P. Carvalho is Principal Investigator (Research career) and permanent staff member of the Instituto Superior Técnico /Campus Tecnológico e Nuclear (former-ITN), Lisbon, Portugal.

As a senior researcher in the field of environmental radioactivity and radiation protection, he has been often invited as an International Expert by the International Atomic Energy Agency, European Union, and other organisms for expert missions. In the last few years he carried out expert missions in countries such as Niger, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Gabon, Mauritania, Algeria, amongst others, in order to assist with the implementation of regulatory infrastructures, drafting and reviewing national regulations, and training of local technical staff for radiation protection and radioactivity monitoring in several activities including mining industry.

In Portugal he has been member of technical groups for drafting legislation and adaptation of European Union Directives on radiation protection, and member of several international working groups on such as the European ALARA network.

Since 2005 he is in charge of the national radiological monitoring programme for the legacy uranium mining and milling sites in Portugal (60 old uranium mines), encompassing terrestrial and aquatic environments and human exposure.

From 2003 to 2007 he coordinated a major environmental radioactivity and epidemiological study (acronym MinUrar) requested by the Portuguese Government from three national laboratories, including the ITN. This study investigated the environmental contamination in the regions with past uranium-radium mining and milling activities and the effects of uranium residues on human health. A comprehensive report was published with the project results and delivered to the Government and to the public. This report was the scientific basis to the approval of an environmental remediation programme for the former uranium sites. This study won the Prize on Public Health Studies from Ricardo Jorge Foundation in 2006.

Since 2002 to 2005 he was the representative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the State Inter ministry Commission for environmental remediation of former mining regions.

From January 2000 to the end of 2003, he held the post of Director of the Department of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (DPRSN) of ITN. Through leading the various Sections of the DPRSN, including the management of staff and budget, he leaded scientific projects, designed the programme for the Department and presented it to the Government and to the External Advisory Board of the Institute. He also was in charge of reporting the Department activities, both in official reports and to the public. The ITN report of, with the DPRSN activities report, is available at the ITN web page (http://www.itn.pt). The names of the International Advisory Board members, then chaired by Prof. Gregory Choppin, University of Florida, USA, are given in the Annual Report.

In 2001, at the national and international level, he dealt with the issue of environmental contamination and human exposure to depleted uranium (DU) from ammunitions used in the Balkan war. In the midst of the public discussions, the applicant conducted a Scientific Mission in the Balkan in January 2001 approved by the Portuguese Government, participated in television debates and press conferences, was called to hearings by the Defence Commission of the National Parliament and made the public presentation of the conclusions of the scientific mission report. An English version of the report is available at the ITN web page.

In 1997-98 he served the IAEA as Section Head of the Marine Environmental Studies Laboratory (MESL), a joint UNEP, IOC-UNESCO and IAEA laboratory in the Principality of Monaco. The MESL was in charge of implementing the United Nations Inter-agency Programme on Marine Pollution. This required the implementation of research and co operation projects based on international conventions, in various regions. Amongst his duties he maintained frequent contact for programme co ordination with several UN organisations, as well as Member States regional organisations (Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, etc), and government representatives. The outstanding performance of MESL was acknowledged by the IAEA Director General with a Team Award. 3

He was also in charge of the planning, conduction and implementation of a large IAEA coordinated research programme (CRP) on Pesticide Residues in the Tropical Environment (funded by Sweden with US$ 3 million). This CRP brought into co operation institutes and scientists from 16 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia and successfully met the objectives. The CRP achievements included training activities, research conducted with success in participating institutes, joint publications, presentations made by country participants to International Symposia, and reports delivered to the competent national authorities containing recommendations to cope with persistent pesticide residues and sustainable development. A book on the assessment of pesticide residues in tropical coastal ecosystems written by the CRP participants was published by Taylor & Francis in 2002.

He participated in several regional planning meetings (e.g., Mediterranean Action Plan meetings with Government representatives, and technical and scientific meetings, organized under the Barcelona Convention), as well as in UN Inter-agency meetings for the integration and co ordination of marine programmes, integrated coastal management and sustainable development. In many occasions, he organised workshops and scientific meetings in behalf of the IAEA, EU projects, ITN, etc., and welcomed participants from different continents and cultures in the IAEA-MEL and in the ITN.

Throughout a number of EU research projects, he implemented collaboration with scientists, Universities and Institutes from most of the EU countries, such as Spain (e.g., CSIC, University of Extremadura, CIEMAT), France (e.g., CEA, Universities of Paris, Marseille, Nantes), Italy (ENEA), Monaco (CIESM), Belgium, The Netherlands (RIVM, NIOS), Finland (STUK), Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Denmark (RISO, DIPSS), United Kingdom (CEFAS).

Some other relevant facts and highlights

§ Extensive contact and participation in international research projects and technical cooperation actions, organized and funded by the IAEA, UNEP and EU.

§ The work performed by the MESL in support of States in various regions, was distinguished with an IAEA Team Award agreed upon by the IAEA Director General in 1997. As Section Head he was recipient of this Award also.

§ The timely response and the scientific work performed to assess the contamination of the Portuguese troops deployed in a peace keeping mission in the Balkans, as well as to assess the environmental contamination and radiological risk to populations caused by DU ammunitions, was officially acknowledged by the Portuguese Government through an Award of Honour given by the Ministry of Science and Technology, published in the Official Journal (Diário da República, II Série, Louvor Nº 472/2001, 28 June).

§ Periodically invited by the European Union, DG XII, to participate in advisory and evaluation panels of EU funded scientific programmes.

§ Frequent referee for scientific journals such as Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Chemosphere, Water Research, The Science of the Total Environment, Environmental Pollution, etc.

§ In the framework of collaborative projects he performed research, for short periods, in several countries. For example, in the University of Nantes, Dept. of Biochemistry and Radiation Biology (Prof J. Piéri), France, and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Limnologia y Oceanografia (Prof. F. Gonzalez-Farias), Sinaloa, Mexico, and as Invited Professor at the Sun Yat-sen University, College of Life Sciences (Prof. Zhong Chuangguang), Guangzhou (Canton), PR China.

§ Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Portuguese Agency for Food Quality and Safety (see www.agenciaalimentar.min-agricultura.pt) and member of several scientific societies.

§ Member of Scientific Panels of international scientific conferences such as Radioecology and Environmental Radioactivity, Bergen, Norway, 15-20 June 2008; International Topical Conference on Po and Radioactive Pb isotopes, 26 - 28 October 2009, Seville; First International Conference on Environmental Pollution, Conservation and Remediation, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 1-5 March 2010;