Lucas Bastos holds a bachelor’s in Biology (2021) and a master’s degree in Marine Biology and Global Change from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (2024). In 2025, he joined the REDUCE project, where he worked on reducing bycatch of megafauna species. He is currently pursuing a PhD in biosciences focused on polar squid genetics.

   Passionate about the marine world from an early age, he has been conducting research on cephalopods in the Southern Ocean.

   He has already worked on their geographical distribution and, during his master’s thesis, focused on phylogeny, and now in his PhD he will study their genetic structure, species diversity and dietary information using advanced molecular tools. His work involves collaboration with international institutions and the use of advanced genetic tools to shed light on the evolutionary history of these organisms in extreme environments.

   He is currently the President of the Executive Committee of APECS Portugal, where he has been a member since October 2023.