José Manuel Silva is a Civil Engineer holding a degree (1997) and a Master’s (2015) in Military Engineering from the Military Academy. He also obtained a Master’s degree (2014) in Civil Engineering from UMinho — Sustainable Construction and Rehabilitation, with a dissertation on Sustainable Rehabilitation of Old Buildings and Fire Safety. He is also a PhD candidate (2023) in Physical Geography and Environmental Studies at UMinho with a thesis titled “The impact of urban-forest interface fires on vernacular architecture dwellings”. Furthermore, he holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Safety.

He serves as a university lecturer at Universidade Lusófona and Universidade Fernando Pessoa do Porto. He also works as a Training Manager at E4Safety. José is a Senior Engineer and Safety Specialist by the Order of Engineers. He is a building fire safety consultant and designer, a European fire safety technician, a forensic fire investigator, and a member of the International Association of Arson Investigators. He is also a member of the RAGroup Portugal — Universidade Lusófona.