About the Author: Paulo Sampaio graduated in Industrial Engineering (2002, 5-year degree) and received a PhD in Systems and Production Engineering from the University of Minho, in 2008, entitled "ISO 9000 worldwide phenomenon research: origins, motivations, consequences and perspectives".
Paulo is currently a Researcher and Assistant Professor in the Systems and Production Department at the University of Minho in Portugal; (2008-...); invited Professor in several Quality Management post graduate courses (2008-...) and Quality Management Consultant (2009-...).
Paulo has held positions as Teaching Assistant in the Systems and Production Department at the University of Minho, Portugal; (2002-2004) Product and Project Manager in the Portuguese Association for Certification (APCER); (2004-2008) PhD Student at the University of Minho, Portugal; (2005-2010) Founder Member and President of the University of Minho Industrial Engineering Alumni Association; (2009-2011) Assistant Professor at the Lusíada University, Portugal; (2010-2012) Vice-President of the Portuguese Association for Quality North Region Delegation; (2010-2012) President of the General Assembly of the University of Minho Industrial Engineering Alumni Association.
Paulo participates as a speaker in many quality management international conferences and he is currently author of several publications in quality management area (books, papers in international and national journals). He is member of the research team of several quality management research projects and also supervises several Master and PhD thesis.
In 2006 (1st), 2008 and 2009 (3rd), Paulo has been distinguished with the award of the Best Paper Presented in the Student Technical Paper Competition during the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement. In 2008, his PhD Thesis was distinguished by the Portuguese Association for Quality as the best thesis developed in Quality. In 2009, Paulo has been distinguished as Senior
Member of the American Society for Quality. In 2011 (2nd), Paulo has been distinguished with the award of the best presentation in the European Organization or Quality Congress. In 2011, Paulo has been nominated one of the Quality Progress "New Voices of Quality" (ASQ) and in 2012 he was awarded with the Feigenbaum Medal (ASQ).Pedro Manuel Saraiva received a Diploma from the University of Coimbra (1987) and PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT (1993). He served as Assistant (1993-2001), Associate (2001-2010) and Full (2010-) Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Coimbra; is President of the Regional Agency for the Development of the Centre of Portugal (2004-2005 and 2012-) and a Member of the Portuguese National Parliament (2009-2012)
His research interests are in the areas of Process Systems Engineering, Applied Statistics, Quality Management, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
He is author and co-author of several books, articles and conference presentations in the fields mentioned, including the following books (in Portuguese): "Empreendedorismo: do conceito à aplicação, da ideia ao negócio, da tecnologia ao valor.", first and second edition (2011); "O Futuro da Qualidade em Portugal" (2010); "Economia do Conhecimento e Instituições de Ensino" (2008); "Testemunhos da Qualidade em Portugal" (2001); "Inovação e Qualidade" (1999).
