Bernardo Ivo Cruz holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Bristol, was a Chevening Doctoral Fellow from the British Foreign Office  and is an Alumnus of the Prince of Wales’s Business and Sustainability Programme at the Institute  of Sustainability and Leadership at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. He is also a Corresponding Academician of the International Academy of Portuguese Culture.

He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Catholic University of Portugal and at the NOVA School of Law of the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, a member of the Scientific Committee of the Center for Sustainable Finance at the Católica Lisbon School of Business and  Economics, an Associate Researcher at the Research Centre of the Institute of Political Studies of the Catholic University of Portugal, a member of the Board of Directors of the Clube de Lisboa and writes a weekly opinion column in the Diário de Notícias. 

In the Public Sector, he was Secretary of State for Internationalisation, Under-Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union during the Portuguese Presidency of the Council in 2021 and Executive Director of  SOFID – Society for the Financing of Development. He was also Chief of Staff to the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs and Economic and Commercial Counsellor at the Portuguese Embassies in the United Kingdom and Brazil, where he directed the AICEP Business Centres for Latin  America and the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In Higher Education, he was a member of the Editorial Board of the Public Policy Portuguese Journal of the Public Policy Monitoring Unit of the University of Évora and Visiting Academic, Lecture, Assistant Lecture and Teaching Assistant at the Universities of Loughborough, Cardiff and Bristol in the United Kingdom. He was also an elected member of the Court of the University of Bristol and a member of the Scientific and Pedagogical Councils at the School of European Studies at Cardiff University.

In Non-Governmental Organizations, he coordinated the Club de Madrid’s Mission to Support National Reconciliation in East Timor, was Secretary General of the Portuguese Council of the European Movement and member of the Board of Directors and General Assembly of the League of Friends of the Jerónimos Monastery.

In the private sector, he was a member of the Strategic Council for International Relations of the CIP – Portuguese Business Confederation and a Strategic Consultant for Public Policies and International Relations at CV&A. He founded and was Global Managing Partner of the True Bridge  Consultancy Group, was President of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the United Kingdom, represented the Federation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism of the State of São Paulo (Brazil) in Europe and was a Partner at Leadership Business Consulting.

He was editor of The London BREXIT Monthly Digest, which followed the process of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union from London’s point of view, wrote a periodic opinion column in national newspapers and was a guest commentator on international issues in various media outlets.

He served as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Botswana in Portugal.

He was distinguished by the Municipal Assembly of São Paulo, Brazil and by the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, United States, received the “Business Internationalisation Award 2014/15” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom and was decorated by the Republic of Chile and the Republic of Estonia.

He has lived and worked in Belgium, Brazil, Portugal, the United Kingdom and East Timor.