Joaquim Gil Nave (jdgn@iscte-iul.pt) is Assistant Professor of the Department of Sociology of the University Institute of Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, where he obtained the graduation in Sociology (1981). He also obtained a PhD. in Political and Social Sciences by the European University Institute, Florence-Italy, under the supervision of Professor Klaus Eder (University of Humboldt - Berlin) in 2000, with a thesis in English on 'public space, communication contexts and collective action of environmental groups in Portugal'. For long time, he is professor and researcher in the areas of rural sociology, environmental sociology and social movements, with several publications in Portuguese and English dispersed in books and journals of sociology. In these scientific areas, he also supervised theses and has integrated juries of Master degrees and PhD., as well as for the case of Post-Doc researches. In the field of academic and scientific management he was for several years director of the graduation degree on Sociology, and member of several academic organizations at ISCTE -IUL, such as Executive Committee of the Department of Sociology, Scientific Committee of the Department of Sociology, Coordinating Committee of Scientific Council, and Senate Council, having also integrated the management directory of the Center for Research and Studies of Sociology - CIES, ISCTE-IUL, of which he is still a research-collaborator. He was also a co-founder member, researcher and coordinator of the OBSERVA – Society, Environment, and Public Opinion, a research program developed by ISCTE and by the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon. Finally, he participated in the organization of several scientific meetings and made scientific evaluation for the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). Occasionally, he is still reviewer for several Portuguese and international sociological journals.