João Martins has been with the United Nations University (UNU-EGOV) since 2017.
He is also an Invited Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Minho since 2018, lecturing in different courses: Applied Statistics for Political Science, International Monetary Economics, Macroeconomics, and Public Finances.
João Martins has been a researcher in the field of digital government since 2017. His research outputs are published in international journals such as the Government Information Quarterly, Social Science Computer Review, Information Economics and Policy, and Economics and Politics. He has also published work in public economics and macroeconomics, and acted as a peer-reviewer in international economics journals. He was a member of the Programme Committee of several digital government conferences, including ICEGOV and dg. o.
João also has experience in consultancy and capacity-building projects, namely from projects and training courses funded by, or in partnership with, the Kaizen Institute, the Digital Government Authority of Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Qatar, the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development of Egypt, and the Ministry of Communications and Informatics of Indonesia. Those projects revolved around digital government assessments, benchmarks and monitoring, digital governance advisories, strategies and recommendations, and international good practices and awards.
Before working in the digital government field, João participated in research projects funded by the European Social Fund and the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos regarding term limits, local governments, local finances, voter turnout, and dual training systems.
João Martins holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minho. The title of his thesis was “Essays on the Socioeconomic Impacts of Digital Government”. He also holds a master's degree in Economics (2015) and a bachelor's degree in Economics (2013) from the University of Minho.