Nuno Miguel Gonçalves
He/Him
I am gay and I am a molecular biologist turned science communicator.//
Already underway with my bachelors in Biology at the University of Lisbon, I hit a roadblock and quit. It was a troubling time, so tired of repressing my identity for over two decades now, one of them being bullied daily in a catholic school. I did not like any part of myself including the part that loved Science.
This storm came to a halt: I decided to finish my bachelors and go right into a MSc in Biotechnology. In my first lab I fell in love with Plant Science and eventually ended up successfully applying for a PhD in Molecular Biology in ITQB NOVA on a growth regulator protein in rice. After a post-doc in Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry (Germany, I returned to pursue a passion that arose during my PhD and am now finishing a new MSc in Science Communication, while also working as a SciComm officer in NOVA Medical School.
All of this during my long process of coming out right before my PhD. I started getting involved with activism through ILGA Portugal and found a new chosen family and my voice, quite literally, in a choir. Also started a community project with my partner of 11 years called esQrever, ongoing and also in podcast format. I recently founded a project called SciDoArmário, an effort to promote visibility and representation of LGBTI people working in STEM areas in Portugal. Within months we became a team, already organizing events and participating in conferences.
I nag a lot but I’m proud of who I am now and what I am doing. Finally.