Guilherme Ribeiro Portugal is originally from the state of S茫o Paulo in Brazil. He studied at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), where he completed bachelor鈥檚 degree in Materials engineering followed by a master's and a PhD degree in Nanoscience and advanced materials, with focus on condensed matter and materials physics. After completing his PhD, he moved to Sweden and joined the Department of physics, chemistry and biology (IFM) at Link枚ping University as a postdoctoral researcher. During three years at IFM, he worked in computational materials science, focusing on MXenes and other two-dimensional materials. He has now taken up a position as Assistant professor at IFM. Research was a natural choice for Guilherme, driven by a desire to understand how things work and an interest in teaching and discussing science. His academic journey began in Brazil, where he worked mainly from a theoretical perspective on perovskites and photocatalysis. Over the years, his research has broadened and today combines computational materials science with a growing interest in wider technological and societal questions. Guilherme's research background is in computational materials science and condensed matter physics. Using atomistic simulations, materials databases, computational screening and machine-learning approaches, he studies how materials behave and how their properties can be predicted. Much of his work focuses on low-dimensional and layered materials, such as MXenes, with particular interest in surfaces, interfaces, defects and the relationship between atomic structure and material properties. In simple terms, he uses computers to understand why materials behave the way they do. "We can simulate what happens between individual atoms and electrons and use that information to understand why a material is stable, why it conducts electricity, how defects change its properties, or whether a completely new material might be possible before someone attempts to produce it experimentally.", Guilherme Ribeiro Portugal says. One area that especially interests him is how computational methods can help researchers explore the enormous number of possible materials more efficiently. At the same time, his interests extend beyond the materials themselves. "I am also interested in what happens after a technology leaves the computer or laboratory.", as he puts it. Part of his research therefore examines how scientific evidence about new technologies is communicated and understood outside academia, and how that understanding can influence the way technologies are evaluated and adopted. Rather than pointing to a particular person or event, Guilherme Ribeiro Portugal says that working in different research environments has shaped how he approaches research. "Some of the most interesting scientific questions appear at the boundaries between fields.", he says. Collaborations with experimental researchers, computational scientists and, more recently, researchers in the social sciences have contributed to a broader perspective on how research is conducted and how technology develops. For Guilherme Ribeiro Portugal, interdisciplinarity is more than bringing together different scientific methods. It is also about understanding the wider context in which technologies are developed and used. "Materials science already lies at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and engineering, and it is now becoming increasingly connected to computer science. I also see important opportunities to connect the natural sciences with other relevant areas, like social sciences." He points to water purification as an example. Understanding which treatment technologies work is fundamentally a scientific and engineering question, while understanding how those technologies are communicated, perceived and trusted requires different kinds of expertise. "Combining these inputs can lead to more complete research questions and a better understanding of the broader context in which technologies are developed and used.", he concludes. As Assistant professor, Guilherme Ribeiro Portugal is beginning to develop his own research direction. "Becoming an Assistant professor is an important step toward establishing an independent research group and developing my own scientific questions.", he says. In the longer term, he hopes to build a research programme that combines fundamental computational materials science, data-driven approaches and strong connections to experimental research. Interdisciplinarity is a central part of that vision, including projects that explore the broader technological and societal context in which materials are developed and used. Looking ahead, collaboration will continue to play an important role. He would like to strengthen collaborations with experimental groups at LiU, particularly in areas related to two-dimensional materials, thin films and functional materials, while also building connections with researchers working on sustainability, communication and the social aspects of technology. "Modern scientific problems are often too broad for any one researcher or discipline to address alone. Collaborations provide access to complementary techniques and infrastructure, not to mention the different ways of framing and thinking about scientific questions. For me, this includes collaborations across countries as well as across disciplines.鈥�, Guilherme concludes.Curiosity as a driving force
Understanding materials through computation
Working across disciplinary boundaries
Establishing an independent research profile
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