Biography

About me

I was born (1953) and raised in Mozambique of Portuguese ancestry. My schooling years were spent in Beira, Maputo, Lisbon and Oxford. A convoluted journey in itself, divided between secular schools and religious boarding schools, until asserting the right of pursuing a career (archaeology) against family will (law).  

The Southern African Savannah and the Indian Ocean were ‘my’ founding landscapes: stark sight, smell and saturated colours. Memory and mystique. But after over two decades in cold and temperate Scandinavia I’ve gladly accepted its four-season pulse and came to love the extreme sub-polar wilderness of Svalbard which we regularly visit.

My professional work ranges a bit over 40 years in academia (universities, research institutes) and science administration. After graduation (History) I set up the first department of Archaeology and Anthropology at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, which I headed from 1976 to 1984. Since civil war soon ravaged outside the major cities our Archaeological Survey programme came to a halt and I left the country. 

Collaborative work with Sweden allowed me to spend two years (1985-1987) as Guest Researcher at Uppsala University (Department of Cultural Anthropology) and to finalise my DPhil in African Archaeology at the University of Oxford, grounded on research work I had initiated in 1979-1980 when resident at Wolfson College. 

Having in mind to develop new collaborative work I settled in Lisbon from 1987 to 1995, pursuing a research career (Principal Investigator, Tropical Research Institute) and a professorship (Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, ULHT).

In 1995 I decided to went back to Sweden, challenged by an international career as Deputy Director (Social Sciences) of the ‘Global Change Secretariat’ at The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, the home of three annual Nobel awards. This phase offered me the longest (17 years) and most fulfilling years of my professional career, particularly being able to directly engage with scientific excellence carried out by thousands of environmental change researchers and research organizations all over the world. 

Having achieved what I had in mind – and in view of the fact that the secretariat was winding down before being dissolved - I took up the position of Senior Research Adviser at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida, 2012-2016), before retiring.

My main scientific interests include environmental science for sustainable development; trans-disciplinarity; science-based innovation and social sciences. 

I am married to Anki and have four lovely children: Sofia (born in Mozambique) Miguel (born in South Africa), Daniel and Klara (both born in Lisbon). 

Hobbies: 

Photography

I made extensive use of photography in my early professional work (archaeology). Subsequent developments of digital photography with its relative easiness reignited my interest, particularly for nature photography. 

Cameras: OM1 (ordered), M1X, M1-MkII, Pen-F and 7 Zuiko lenses.

Writing and Reading

Those are interests I have had since childhood. As adolescent I wrote particularly poetry. I keep a website at joaodemorais.com

Travel 

I traveled extensively by air in the last two decades. Fatigue and environmental concerns have however taken away much of the early enchantment. Associated with our interest of nature photography I occasionally travel both in Sweden and abroad..

Motorbiking

I am also a keen motor biker with trips to Norway, Pyrenees, Morocco and Portugal.