Since 2008, José Saldanha Matos has been a Full Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon (IST-UL), in the scientific area of Hydraulics, Environment, and Water Resources.
He is a Member of the Scientific Committee for Doctoral Programs in Environmental Engineering (IST-UL) and Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies (until September 2025). He has supervised 25 doctoral students and is the author of 340 communications and articles in national and international conferences and journals. Over the last 30 years, he has served as an external examiner for doctoral theses in Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. He was a Member of the Governing Board of the International Association on Water Quality (IAWQ) between 1996 and 2000. He has been a Fellow of the International Water Association since 2010, and an honorary member of the European Water Association (EWA) since 2024. He has been a Member of the EWA General Assembly since 2005, serving as Vice-President and President of the EWA between 2015 and 2017 and between 2017 and 2019, respectively. Since 2020, he has been the President of the Portuguese Water Partnership. A founding partner of Hidra, Hidráulica e Ambiente, in 1992, he is the co-author of over 400 studies, plans, and projects for water supply and sanitation for cities or regions in Portugal, South America, Canada, Central Asia, and Africa (Angola, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, and Tanzania), where he has promoted water efficiency solutions (optimization and control of water losses in distribution systems) and plans and projects for nature-based and low-cost sanitation.