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Hydraulics and Environment Department Hydraulics and Environment Department

Maria Rafaela Matos

Maria Rafaela Matos
Phone: 218 443 791

Professional Situation

Principal Researcher

Academic and Scientific Degrees

  • Head of the LNEC 's Hydraulics and Environment Department, 2004-2016
  • Principal Researcher at LNEC (Full Professor equivalent), since 2000
  • Habilitation in Sanitary Engineering, LNEC, 2000
  • Specialist in Sanitary Engineering by LNEC, 1987
  • Hydraulics Civil Engineer, Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), TU Lisbon, 1977

Functions and Relevant Public Offices

  • Member of the SAB (Strategic Advisory Board) of EU /Joint Programming Initiative – Urban Water EU /JPI, since 2012
  • Member of the Task Force (TF) of the European Innovation Partnership on Water (EIP on Water) and co –drafter of the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP), since 2012
  • Member of the Programme Committee of the International Water Association (IWA), since 2010.
  • Member of the Board of the Portuguese Water Partnership (PPA), since 2010  
  • Member of the Portuguese Engineering Academy, since 2009

Areas of Research / Interest

  • Urban hydrology and hydraulics; Storm water management
  • Urban water management; performance assessment and benchmarking of wastewater services
  • European, International and National Water Regulations and Standards

Research and Professional Activity

  • Leader of more than 40 R&D Projects, national and international.
  • Co-drafter of the Projects of Regulation on Water and Wastewater for Portugal, Macau (South of china), S. Tomé e Príncipe and Mozambique
  • Drafter of a set of 24 Standards for Macau (South of China)
  • Chairman, Member of the Scientific and/or Organizing Committees of more than 50 national and international Conferences

Scientific Orientation

  • M.Sc. of 5 foreign students, 1983-1998;
  • 5 research assistants at LNEC 1990-1994;
  • 1 PhD Luis David 1993-1996       

Relevant Publications

Author, co-author and editor of 6 books (2 translated into mandarin), 1 dissertation, 1 Research Program, 2 Technical Guides, 200 technical reports and more than 150 papers in proceedings and scientific journals.A set of the most relevant in the last decade follows:
  • H. Alegre, S.T. Coelho, J. F. Feliciano, R. Matos - Boosting innovation in the water sector - The role and lessons learned from collaborative projects (2014) -  IWA WWC Lisboa 2014 Proceedings
  • Coutard, O.; Finnveden, G.; Kabisch, S.; Kitchin,R.; Matos, R.; Nijkamp, P.; Pronello, C.;  Robinson, D  (2013)– Urban Megatrends – towards  An  European Research  Agenda - A report by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe
  • Matos, RM et al (2013) - Performance Indicators for Wastewater Services - Manual of Best Practices. IWA Publishing, ISBN 978-7-112-15619-1, translation copyright 2013 by China Architecture & Building Press (in mandarin)    
  • David, L.M.; Matos, R.S.; Matos, J.S., Ferreira, F.; Frazão, A; Póvoa, P..(2011) – Evaluation of the combined effect of increasing storage and treatment capacity in the Alcântara catchment. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage. Porto Alegre, 11-16 September 2011, Brasil.
  • Matos,R.S et al..(2011) – Climate change and adaptive urban water management. The Lisboa case study in the scope of PREPARED Enabling Change EU project. In SILUSBA, Porto Galinhas, Brasil, September 2011 (in Portuguese)
  • B. Chocat; R. Ashley; J. Marsalek; M.R. Matos, W. Rauch; W. Schilling; B. Urbonas (2007) -  Towards the sustainable management of urban stormwater. Indoor and Built Environment 2007 SAGE Publications. Accessible online at http://ibe.sagepub.com
  • L.M.David.;  J.S.Matos; R.S. Matos; R.F. Carvalho (2006) – A simplified methodology to evaluate CSO control strategies, IWA Water Congress, Beijing, China,  IWA Publishing 2006
  • Matos, R.S. et al. (2003) - Performance Indicators for Wastewater Services - Manual of Best Practices. IWA Publishing, ISBN 1-900222-90-6, 2003.

Other scientific and technical Activities

  • Member of more than 25 University Jury’s for Master, PhD Dissertations and Habilitation degrees, namely in France (1 PhD, 2 Habilitation à Diriger la Recherche, à l`INSA de Lyon et à ENP Paris Tech,  Université de l´Est)
  • Member of the Committee of Evaluation of Proposals - Villes Durables ANR, Paris France, 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2012-2013
  • Member of the Committee of Evaluation of Proposals – Portuguese National Science Foundation  (FCT)– 2008-2011
  • Active member in several European and International networks, Associations, Clusters such as: EIP on Water, IWA, WssTP, GWOPA,  Global Water Intelligence, Global Water Partnership, Water Research Institutes Directors, Ibero-American Water Research Institutes Director’s, European Water Partnership. 

Other Information

Fluent in english, in french and in spanish. Good capabilities in Italian. Awards and Prizes include:
  • The National Prize of the Environment 1988, awarded by the Secretary of State for the Environment and Natural Resources, June 1988
  • The APRH Biennial Award on Science Research, Research Prize, October 1988, awarded by the Portuguese Water Resources Association (APRH), for relevant research activity in the area of hydrology and hydraulics
  • The Research Prize Manuel Rocha, awarded by the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) for relevant research activity, October 1992.

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