Curriculum Vitae
Professional Situation
Assistant Researcher
Academic and Scientific Degrees
- 2004 PhD, Chemical Engineering, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
- 1987-1992 University degree (5 years), Chemical Engineering, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
Functions and Relevant Public Offices
- Oct/2016-Present Assistant Researcher, LNEC
- May/2013-Oct/2016 Post-Doctoral Research Associate FCT, LNEC
- Oct/2013-Oct/2016 Post-Doctoral Research Associate FCT/LNEC, LNEC
- Abr/2010-Set/2013 Post-Doctoral Research Associate LNEC, National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC)
- Jul/2009-Abr/2010 Research Assistant, IST/ University of Lisbon
Areas of Research / Interest
- Water and wastewater quality, treatment and reuse.
- Advanced water treatment technologies (membranes, adsorption, hybrid processes).
- Development, modelling and optimization of water treatment processes.
- Control of emerging contaminants, pharmaceutical compounds, personal care products, cyanotoxins, natural organic matter and disinfection by-products.
- Design and implementation of conventional and advanced water treatment processes, at lab and pilot scales.
- Water quality and safety in the supply and distribution systems, including the evolution/ degradation of water quality throughout the network.
Research and Professional Activity
- Participation in 30+ projects, in applied research and advanced consulting and in 19 international and 8 national R&D projects, including:
> p2i Water and the city – Transition to the cities of the future. Framework project for the activities of LNEC’s Urban Water Unit (2023–2027 and 2015–2022)
> LIFE ReFitting – ReFitting the PLAN-DO toolbox for wider replication under the new EU wastewater directive (2026-2029)
> JTC/Water4All ReWAdd – Resource recovery from wastewater based on photo-bio-electrochemical and membrane processes with minimal chemical addition to produce added-value goods (2026-2029)
> Water4All Partnership – Water Security for the Planet. Phases 1, 2 and 3 (2022–2029)
> Aqualearn – Machine learning-based digital twins for real-time anomaly detection in water supply systems (2025–2028)
> ProÁguas Industria: Training programme in industrial wastewater management. AgIR Action Plan, Águas do Tejo Atlântico, LIS-Water and LNEC, funded by the Environmental Fund (2022–2026)
> CYTED RECIRCULA Network: Circular economy in Ibero-American industry: Waste into value-added products (2023–2026)
> LIFE Fitting – Demonstration of an innovative PLAN-DO toolbox for a safer, resource efficient and fit-for-purpose wastewater treatment (2023-2025)
> UP2030 – Urban Planning and Design ready for 2030 (2023-2025)
> EMPOWER+ – Engineered and reusable nanoporous carbons for advanced water treatment (2021-2024)
> B-watersmart – Accelerating Water Smartness in Coastal Europe (2020-2024)
> RESCCUE – RESilience to cope with Climate Change in Urban arEas - a multisectorial approach focusing on water (2016-2019)
> LIFE Impetus – Improving current barriers for controlling pharmaceutical compounds in urban wastewater treatment plants (2016-2019)
> LIFE HyMemb – Tailoring hybrid membrane processes for sustainable drinking water production (2014-2016)
> aWARE – Innovative hybrid MBR-(PAC-NF) systems to promote water reuse (2013-2016)
> TRUST – TRansitions to the Urban Water Services of Tomorrow (2011-2015)
> ChloriDec – Technology for the real-time monitoring of chlorine decay rates in drinking water systems (2012-2014, PI)
- Member of the Technical Committee for Standardization in the field of urban water systems, subcommittee 3, CT 90/SC 3 - Water Reuse
- National expert on the standardisation committee ISO/TC 282 Water Reuse
- Expert in the Desalination Expert Group of Water Europe platform
- Guest Editor of the Water Special Issue “Advanced Technologies for Water Reclamation and Reuse” (2020–2021) and the Sustainability Special Issue “Advancing Wastewater Treatment and Reuse for Sustainable Water Resources” (2024–2026)
Other Scientific and Technical Activities
> Scientific supervision of doctoral, master’s and undergraduate theses, research fellowships within projects, and internships
> Examiner for doctoral and master’s theses
> Reviewer for scientific journals
> Member of Scientific Committees for national conferences
> Member of several professional and scientific associations, including: Portuguese Engineers Association (Ordem dos Engenheiros), Portuguese Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (APESB; LNEC member), International Water Association (IWA; LNEC member), European Membrane Society (EMS), IWA Specialist Groups on Water Reuse and Membrane Technology, and Portuguese Association for Experimental Stress Analysis (APAET)
Recent Publications
- +150 publications (h-index 19, +1000 citations on Scopus platform), the last of which:
> Brito R.S., Mesquita E., Viegas R.M.C., Soares J., Costa C., Rosa M.J. (2026) Guidance on effective exploitation of spectroscopic techniques for assessing wastewater discharges in water bodies. Journal of Environmental Management 406, 129759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.129759
> Viegas R.M.C., Silva C., Campinas M., Paíga P., Delerue-Matos C., Costa C., Rosa M.J. (2026) A novel phenomenological model for streamlined prediction and online monitoring of organic micropollutant removal in full-scale wastewater ozonation. Desalination 628, 120060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2026.120060
> Viegas R.M.C., Figueiredo D., Mesquita E., Charrua S., Costa C., Lourinho R., Rosa M.J. (2025) Pilot-scale demonstration of advanced wastewater treatment for direct potable water reuse for beer production. Separation and Purification Technology 375, 133419 https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SEPPUR.2025.133419
> Costa J., Mesquita E., Ferreira F., Figueiredo D., Rosa M.J., Viegas R.M.C. (2023) Modeling Chlorine Decay in Reclaimed Water Distribution Systems—A Lisbon Area Case Study. Sustainability 15, 16211 https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316211
> Rosa M.J., Campinas M., Silva C., Mesquita E., R.M.C. Viegas (2023) Controlling organic micropollutants in urban (waste) water treatment by activated carbon adsorption and membrane technology, in: Clean Technologies Toward a Sustainable Future: Physicochemical, Biochemical and Biotechnological Approaches https://doi.org/10.2166/9781789063783_0141
> Campinas M, Viegas R.M.C., Almeida C.M.M, Martins A., Silva C., Mesquita E., Coelho M.R., Silva S., Cardoso V.V., Benoliel M.J., Rosa M.J. (2022) Powdered activated carbon full-scale addition to the activated sludge reactor of a municipal wastewater treatment plant: Pharmaceutical compounds control and overall impact on the process. Journal of Water Process Engineering 49, 102975 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.102975
> Mestre A.S., Viegas R.M.C., Mesquita E., Rosa M.J., Carvalho A.P. (2022) Engineered pine nut shell derived activated carbons for improved removal of recalcitrant pharmaceuticals in urban wastewater treatment. Journal of Hazardous Materials 437, 129319 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129319
> Viegas R.M.C., Mestre A.S., Mesquita E., Machuqueiro M., Andrade M., Carvalho A.P., Rosa M.J. (2022) Key factors for activated carbon adsorption of pharmaceutical compounds from wastewaters: a multivariate modelling approach. Water 14(2), 166. doi.org/10.3390/w14020166
> Mestre A.S., Campinas M, Viegas R.M.C., Mesquita E., Carvalho A.P., Rosa M.J. (2022) Activated carbons in full-scale advanced wastewater treatment. Advanced Materials for Sustainable Environmental Remediation. Eds. Dimitrios Giannakoudakis, Lucas Meili, Ioannis Anastopoulos. Elsevier. Netherlands, 433-475. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90485-8.00001-1
> Costa J., Mesquita E., Ferreira F., Rosa M.J., Viegas R.M.C. (2021) Identification and Modelling of Chlorine Decay Mechanisms in Reclaimed Water Containing Ammonia. Sustainability 13(24), 13548. doi.org/10.3390/su132413548
> Campinas M., Viegas R.M.C., Coelho R., Lucas H., Rosa M.J. (2021) Adsorption/Coagulation/Ceramic Microfiltration for Treating Challenging Waters for Drinking Water Production. Membranes 11 (2) 91 https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020091