Lourenço Bandeira graduated in Mechanical Engineering (2003), has a MSc in the applications of visual control to robotics (2005) and a PhD in the applications of pattern recognition techniques to the study of geomorphological features in planetary images (2011), all from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon. Presently he is a research fellow at the Centre for Natural Resources and the Environment (CERENA) at IST. He publishes regularly in scientific journals, chapters of books and proceedings of international and national conferences. He has participated in 3 scientific polar campaigns (1 in the Arctic and 2 in Antarctica). His major interests of research are related to automated pattern recognition methodologies for remotely sensed image analysis and the study of Martian analogues.