José Brilha is a geologist and Professor at the University of Minho, Portugal. He is a member of the UNESCO IGCP Scientific Board, of the UNESCO Global Geopark Evaluation Team, and of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and its Geoheritage Specialist Group. He was President of ProGEO, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Geoheritage, member of the Geoheritage Task Group of IUGS, of the Portuguese Committee for IGCP, and of the Portuguese Geoparks Forum.