معرفی
Maria João Cortinhal is an Associate Professor at ISCTE-IUL, serving as Director of ISCTE Business School since 2023 and holding various academic management positions including coordinator of the third year of the Bachelor's in Management, elected member of the Scientific Council and General Council, and department director. She is affiliated with the Department of Quantitative Methods for Management and Economics at ISCTE Business School.
- Director of School of Management (2023-2027)
- President of Scientific Committee (2023-2027)
- Director of Institutional Course at School of Management (2023-2024)
- Former Director of School of Management (2019-2023)
- Former President of Scientific Committee (2019-2023)
Her educational background includes a PhD in Statistics and Operational Research from Faculty of Sciences - UL (2005), Master's degree in the same field (1994), and Bachelor's degree (1990).
Dr. Cortinhal's research focuses on combinatorial optimization problems, with special emphasis on logistics network design, sectorization and route design, using metaheuristics. Her work spans supply chain management, vehicle routing, waste collection optimization, and energy systems. She has participated as a researcher in FCT-funded projects, including the definition of logistics models for forest biomass supply and expansion of the national network of Justices of the Peace. Her research has evolved from fundamental facility location problems to applied logistics and sustainability projects.
Her scientific production shows a strong focus on operational research with applications in logistics and sustainability. The publications demonstrate progression from theoretical optimization problems to practical applications in waste management, supply chain design, and renewable energy systems. Recent work increasingly addresses sustainability challenges in energy systems while maintaining strong methodological foundations in combinatorial optimization.
Dr. Cortinhal has supervised 2 doctoral theses to completion, 2 master's dissertations in progress, 6 completed master's dissertations, and 4 master's final projects. Her students' work reflects her research interests, with topics spanning energy sustainability, logistics optimization, community detection in networks, and business applications of operations research.
She has contributed to numerous national projects including development of methodologies for vehicle routing for collecting valuables (2016-2019) and planning household waste collection for Seixal municipality (2012-2015). Her external engagement includes media appearances where she discusses management education, economic development through education, and the role of business schools in preparing future executives.
