Emanuel Barcelos was born in February 1983, in the parish of Raminho, on Terceira Island. He graduated in Nature Management and Conservation from the University of the Azores in 2007, and later completed a postgraduate degree in Environmental Engineering at the same institution.
He participated in several research projects during his training, such as the BALA project (Biodiversity of the Arthropods of the Azores Laurel Forest), the INTERFRUTA project and the organization of the VI Alpha International Meeting of Phytosociology dedicated to Biodiversity, Vegetation and Conservation Instruments, as a member of the Office of Plant and Applied Ecology of the University of the Azores.
He was a member of the board of the NGO Environment Nucleus of the University of the Azores and, he participated in several training courses in geographic information systems, aiming for its application in land management and biodiversity conservation.
He began his professional activity at the Laboratory of Marine Environment and Technology, of the University of the Azores, being responsible for the technology park, which, articulated with several local schools, addressed the theme of environmental sustainability, renewable energies and hydrogen. During this period he taught at the University of the Azores, as an assistant professor, the subjects of renewable energies and sustainable development and energy management. It was also during this period that he participated in the GreenIslands project, promoted by the University of the Azores and the MIT Portugal project, where he was responsible for the characterization of the wind potential of the Azores.
In recent years, he has paid attention to another area that he is also passionate about, computer science, doing specific training in application development, in various programming languages, and then starting his professional activity in this area as well.
From December 24, 2020 to April 11, 2024, he was Regional Director for Spatial Planning and Water Resources, overseeing the areas of spatial planning, geodesy, cartography, cadastre and water resources. During his term of office, the representative of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in the National Water Council was also appointed.
He currently holds the position of senior specialist technician in the office of the Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Action.