João Costa
Senior Program Manager I Global Development Awards Competition, Director | Global Development Conference
João joined GDN in Oct 2018 as a Program Associate and increased his responsibilities in April 2019 to manage the Global Development Awards Competition (GDAC) as a Senior Program Manager. In 2023, he was promoted to Director of the annual Global Development Conference (GDC). Currently, he is in charge of both flagship programs - GDAC and GDC, besides pursuing EUI’s Global Executive Master.
João received his Masters in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minho, PT, with a post-degree in Translational Medicine (Institute for Interdisciplinary Innovation. Université Livre de Bruxelles – ULB, BE) and another in Health Crisis Management in LMICs (European University Institute – EUI, IT). Prior to joining GDN, João was an interim Scientific Officer at the European Research Council [ERC] (Executive Agency) at the European Commission where he managed, supported the evaluation, and did the scientific and financial monitoring/assessment of million euro grants on projects related to the field of Life Sciences (in particular on Diagnostics, Therapies, Applied Medical Technology, and Public Health). João was the President of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) Portugal and later the Liaison Officer (LO) of ESN International towards the European Students Union and the Lifelong Learning Platform, as well as a member of the Expert Group of the European Youth Forum on Erasmus+ and funding of youth organizations, on a volunteering basis. Furthermore, he has acted as Evaluator for the European Commission on calls related to Higher Education, youth, and non-formal education topics.
He may be contacted at jcosta@gdn.int.