RESEARCHERS

SHORT BIO – Américo Mateus PhD

Américo Mateus holds a PhD in Management from the University of Évora, a Master’s in Marketing, and a Bachelor’s degree in Design. He is Professor of Strategic Design and Innovation at ISMAT – Instituto Universitário (Portugal) and an integrated researcher at CIAUD – pólo COFAC.

He is founding partner of GUDA – Give U Design Art, where he develops participatory and market-oriented innovation projects combining design methodologies, strategic management, and co-creation processes. Author of the methodologies IDEAS(R)EVOLUTION and Co-Nature’ing, his work connects design, circular economy, and regenerative innovation. He is Principal Investigator of COCOON (Erasmus+) and researcher in URBiNAT, BiomaterialKIT, and Deep Carbon Shift (Horizon Europe) led by IAAC Barcelona.

SHORT BIO – Susana Leonor PhD

Susana Leonor holds a PhD in Design from the University of Aveiro (2016). She is Professor at ISMAT – Instituto Universitário (Lusófona Group) and Director of the Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Design and Creative Technologies. With teaching experience since 2006, she has worked across different higher education institutions in the fields of creativity, design, emerging technologies, and innovation.

She is partner at GUDA – Give U Design Art, where she develops participatory design and facilitation models through applied research on market dynamics and emerging trends. Her work focuses on co-design, creative processes, and sustainable futures, connecting design practice with innovation ecosystems. She has been involved in several European and national research projects, including COCOON (Erasmus+), EURIDICE (Horizon Europe), CECAM (PRR Portugal), BiomaterialKIT, and URBiNAT (H2020).