José Tomaz Castello Branco is a Guest Professor at the Institute for Political Studies at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, and the Coordinator of the MA program in Governance, Leadership, and Democracy Studies. Since 2000, he has taught several courses in the fields of contemporary political theory, systems of government and Islamic political thought. Currently he is also a Guest Professor of Political Theory at the Universidade da Beira Interior.

He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Political Science and International Relations at the Institute for Political Studies. He also has a B.A. in Law, by Universidade Lusíada. He was twice visiting student at the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s and Wolfson College), and the recipient of a doctoral scholarship granted by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.

His current research interests focus on pluralism, the idea of liberty, utopian political thinking, terrorism, the intellectual origins of radical Islamism and the political and philosophical legacy of the “Al-Andaluz”.