By · No · Means · Average
Work in progress
I always wanted to be a scientist — until I became one. Followed by a set of career changes that only look deliberate in hindsight. This is my “CV”, read each beat the LinkedIn way, or flip to the director's commentary for the honest version.
BSc in Biology, University of Lisbon
Began a BSc in Biology at the University of Lisbon.
- 2007Awarded a research grant to join a lab in year-2, combining fieldwork and lab work.
- 2008Selected Molecular Biology as area of specialisation.
Still know the 7 classes of molluscs by heart.
Proper use of neural tokens
MSc in Evolutionary Biology, Utrecht University.
Researched how germ cells shield their genome from mutation, raising the odds of healthy offspring.
“Yes, the eggs came from a slaughterhouse.”
PhD in Neuroscience, Champalimaud Foundation
Began doctoral research in Neuroscience.
- 2011First year devoted to intensive coursework across the foundations of neuroscience.
- 2013Organised and hosted a public science-communication event (~400 attendees) on the evolution and neuroscience of play.
- 2015Research direction revised following a competing publication.
- 2016Research stint in Ashburn, Virginia.
- 2018Published in Nature Communications.
- 2019Completed PhD; defended doctoral thesis.
Fig. 3b — The defense after-party (n = enough)
“This is awfully light for the amount of work you've presented.”
Post-doctoral researcher, Champalimaud Foundation
Post-doctoral researcher: organised and taught a course on scientific data analysis and statistics, advised on experimental design and data collection, and ran experiments on the neural basis of defensive behaviour.
committed to a career change
rebalanceRetrained as a data analyst through an intensive full-time bootcamp (Python, ML, visualisation, SQL).
won the hackathon
1st place, Ironhack hackathon — built an educational web game visualising gender-inequality statistics.
joined the game industry
Moved into game development, applying data analysis to live products.
“It's not a spreadsheet, it's an economy.”
balancing game economies
Game economy designer — modelling sinks, sources, and progression so live games stay fair, fun, and solvent.