Faculdade de Motricidade Humana

Neuromechanics’s research is focused on biomechanics and morphological sciences applied in the field of sports sciences, physical education and rehabilitation.

Exercise and Health Laboratory

João Magalhães' current research interests focus on the graded and dose-response relationships between sedentary behavior and physical activity, with obesity, metabolic and other chronic diseases across the life span, and related mechanistic and prevention models, with a special focus on exercise interventions on people with type-2 diabetes.

Further interests are on the assessment of Energy Expenditure and Physical Activity Using reference methods (doubly labeled water) and objective methods (proportional actigraphy, and combined sensors using heart rate and motion sensors).

Xavier Melo is an Assistant Professor at the Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior – Polytechnic Institute of Santarem, and Technical and Scientific advisor at Ginásio Clube Português. He holds a Master degree in Exercise and Health (2009), and a PhD in Physical Activity and Health (2015) at the Faculty of Human Kinetics – University of Lisbon (FMH-UL). His main research targets pediatric, chronic disease and intellectual disability populations, and is mainly interested in: 1) the central and peripheral cardiovascular adaptations in the acute and chronic models of response to exercise; and 2) the associations between multiple cardiovascular risk factors and surrogate Markers of Cardiovascular Disease. Furthermore, he seeks to design, implement and assess exercise interventions for cardiovascular prevention and treatment. He has been the first author of 8 articles published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals and coauthored plenty others, and over 27 works in the proceedings of international conferences and meetings. Due to his investment in several laboratorial internships with scientific partners at The Integrative Physiology Laboratory – University of Illinois, both at Chicago and Champaign, he has gotten skilled and an expert in: Vascular Imaging, Arterial Stiffness, Endothelial and Autonomic Function, Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, Energy Expenditure, Objective Measures of Body Composition and Physical Activity. He has been a researcher in several FCT-funded projects: SFRH/BD/85742/2012; SFRH / BD / 70515 / 2010; PTDC/DES/120249/2010; PTDC/DES/119028/2010; PTDC/DES/108372/2008.

Her current research interests are the study of exercise/physical activity and bone health. The work is centered on the associations/effects of exercise and physical activity in bone health, namely in material and structural components of bone. Currently, she explores the effects of exercise and physical activity on hip morphology and bone mass distribution in children, adults and older people.

Graduated in Sport Sciences – Physical Education Mention in 1997, at the Faculty of Human Kinetics. Concluded his master thesis in “Exercise and Health” area in 2013 and finished his PhD in 2007, entitled “Body composition and metabolic syndrome features in overweight and obese women”, both developed at the same university. He has been participating in several investigation projects related with exercise physiology and prescription, body composition and athletes performance. Invited professor of Exercise Prescription at the Faculty of Human Kinetics, he is also member of the European Union – Sport Unit and World Health Organization “HEPA – Health–enhancing physical activity” expert group, representing Portugal. Between 2007 and 2012, he coordinated the Training Control Service at the Jamor National High Performance Center. Since 2014, he has been coordinating the National Sport for All Program at the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth and assumed, recently, the coordination of the European Union Physical Activity and Sport Monitoring System – EUPASMOS. He is also invited professor in several Portuguese and international universities and counselor of national sport federations and pharmaceutical companies.

Nuno M. Pimenta is an Assistant Professor of Physical Activity and Health at the Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior – Polytechnic Institute of Santarém. He holds a Bachelor in Sport Sciences from Coimbra University (2000), a Master degree in Exercise and Health (2006) and a Ph.D. in Physical Activity and Health (2014) both obtained in Lisbon University, Faculty of Human Kinetics. His main research interest is the study of the clinical assessment and enhancement of cardiometabolic risk profile, with a main focus on that related with body composition and autonomic function, particularly in populations with clinical conditions. He has published over 10 international peer-reviewed original articles and has been an investigator in several research projects including his individual PhD scholarship (SFRH / BD / 41173 / 2007) from the Portuguese national funding agency for science, research and technology (FCT), the research project: Body Composition and Autonomic Nervous System on Cardiovascular Regulation and Risk (Composição Corporal e Sistema Nervoso Autonónomo na Regulação e Risco Cardiovascular – Laboratório de Investigação em Desporto e Saúde, Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia do Alentejo: ALENT-07-0262-FEDER-001883), and the SEDY project – Sport Empowering Disabled Youth funded by ERASMUS+ (557067 – EPP – 1 – 2014 – 1 – NL – SPO – SCP). He is a reviewer for several scientific journals in the field of Nutrition and other body composition and exercise related journals. He is now involved in the preparation of several research funding project applications and he is looking forward to carve his way through sport science.