Biography

Miguel Carmo has a degree in Environmental Engineering (IST, 2005) and a master’s degree at NOVA FCSH and ISA (2009) in Landscape Ecology and rural fire propagation patterns in northern Portugal. After a period of interruption in academic activity (2009-2012), during which he worked in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, he completed his PhD on the evolution of agricultural systems and soil fertility in Portugal (1870-1960) (ISA and IST, 2018). His current research interests are the interface between social history and environmental science.

Research fields

• Modern and contemporary agrarian history
• Climate and fire sciences
• Soil fertility
• History of rural fires

Selected publications

• Carmo, Miguel & Tiago Domingos. “Agricultural expansion, soil degradation, and fertilization in Portugal, 1873-1960: From history to soil and back again,” Social Science History 45 (2021). [link]
• Carmo, Miguel & Joana Sousa. “Recensão crítica de HENRIQUES, Isabel Castro (2020). Os «Pretos do Sado». História e memória de uma comunidade alentejana de origem Africana (Séculos XV-XX),” Medi@ções 9 (2021): 276–283. [PDF]
• Carmo, Miguel, Joana Sousa, Pedro Varela, Ricardo Ventura & Manuel Bivar. “African knowledge transfer in Early Modern Portugal: Enslaved people and rice cultivation in Tagus and Sado rivers,” Diacronie 44 (2020): 45-66. [PDF]
• Carmo, Miguel, Roberto García-Ruiz, Maria Isabel Ferreira & Tiago Domingos. “The N-P-K soil nutrient balance of Portuguese cropland in the 1950s: The transition from organic to chemical fertilization,” Scientific Reports 7 (2017): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08118-3 [PDF]
• Carmo, Miguel, Francisco Moreira, Pedro Casimiro & Pedro Vaz. “Land use and topography influences on wildfire occurrence in northern Portugal,” Landscape and Urban Planning 100 (2011): 169-176. [link]

Main projects

• Postdoctoral project “Planting fire, banning fire: The disputed historical grounds of large wildfires in Portugal, 1950-2020” — Hosted by the IHC and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (UIDB/04209/2020). 2021-
• Fellow of the project “FIRESTORM – Weather and Behaviour of Fire Storms ” — Coordinated by Domingos Xavier Viegas (ADAI) and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (PCIF/GFC/0109/2017).