Rubén C. Lois-González is Professor of Geography at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Vice President of the International Geographical Union (UGI). He has been Visiting Professor at universities in France, Norway, and Italy and the Federal University of Bahia-UFBA (Brazil). He is Principal Investigator of various European Union and international cross-border cooperation projects. He is Author of nearly 200 books and book chapters, and more than 160 articles in academic journals. Notable among them are Scripta Nova, Finisterra, Annales de Géographie, Sud-Ouest Européen, Die Erde, European Planning Studies, Land, Use & Policy, Revista Geografia del Norte Grande, Mobilities, Territory, Politics and Governance, Sociologia Ruralis, and Gender, Place & Culture. He directed 39 doctoral theses. He has been Dean of the Faculty of Geography and History of Santiago de Compostela. He is Member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Association of Geography (1997-2011 and from 2017 to today) and Founder of the College of Geographers of Spain (1999).
Jose A. Rio Fernandes is Geographer and Full Professor at the University of Porto. He is Coordinator of the research group “Cities and Territorial Development” at CEGOT, investigating on urban geography, urbanism, and local and regional development. He is President of the General Assembly of FAPAS (Portuguese Association for the Biodiversity Conservation) and Member of the Regional Conseil of the North of Portugal. He was President of the Portuguese Geographers Association (2010-2016) and its General Assembly (2016-2020 and 2020-2022). He is Author of more than 200 scientific publications, including articles in BAGE, Cities, GOT, Land, Sud-Ouest Européen, Sustainability, Urban Geography, and Urban Research & Practice, and 40 books, including two dictionaries. He has been involved in several international investigation projects and was Visiting Teacher in Angers, Berlin, Presidente Prudente, Natal, and Rio de Janeiro. He writes weekly for the JN newspaper and is commentator for Porto Canal tv.