Ricardo Araújo is a vertebrate paleontologist and currently Junior Researcher at the Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear of Instituto Superior Técnico. He was ranked first among all students graduating the same year in Geological Engineering at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and his first publication was at the age of 18. At that age, he was employed as a fossil preparator by Museu da Lourinhã, and later he received an internship at University College Dublin (Ireland). Under a Fulbright Scholarship, he obtained his PhD at the Southern Methodist University (Dallas, USA), a university known for field paleontology programs in Africa, where he conducted research on sauropterygian functional morphology and erected a new species of a marine reptile from Angola (Cardiocorax mukulu). He has up to date erected six new species for science, and one has been published this month (Kembawacela yajuwayeyi). During his PhD he was a Teaching Assistant for Introductory Geology, Oceanography and Vertebrate Anatomy. At the age of 23, he started a field campaign in north Mozambique initially funded by the Young Explorer’s Grant of National Geographic, which led to the PaleoMoz Project. This ongoing paleontological and educational endeavor led to, among other feats, three new species for science, the first paleontological laboratory of Mozambique, the first doctoral students on vertebrate paleontology from Mozambique, dozens of supervised students, the first publications led by Mozambican students, more than a decade of fieldwork covering multiple provinces of Mozambique, or an award-winning documentary (see trailer here www.paleomoz.org). As for outreach, he has made from scratch temporary paleontological exhibitions (e.g., Oeiras Parque), made multiple presentations in schools, and is currently a privileged partner with Ciência Viva. Araújo started his postdoc at Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, in collaboration with the Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin, Germany), in order to study cranial modularity in mammalian ancestors. These studies led him to collaborate intensively with the Université de Montpellier (France) where he became a regular visiting scholar and has collaborated with multiple researchers from the university up to today. He recently (July 2022) published as first-author in the prestigious journal nature on the origin of warm-bloodedness in mammalian ancestors, but has also published 47 peer-reviewed articles, 3 book chapters, and a few others have recently been submitted and accepted for review (e.g., Nature communications). Araújo has according to Google Scholar 1011 citations since 2010, and his most cited work has 147 citations as of October 2022. Araújo has received multiple grants from FCT/Aga Khan foundation, National Geographic Society, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility or Fundo Nacional de Investigação (Mozambique), totaling ~700k€. He has an international profile, since he has collaborated with numerous researchers from, e.g.: UK, USA, France, Mozambique, Zambia. Araújo research has a breadth of multiple techniques such as statistics including machine learning, finite-element analysis, 3D digital modelling, phylogenetics, biomechanics, computed-tomography techniques, and has worked with multiple vertebrate groups such as dinosaurs, crocodilians, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, fossil embryos, but his specialty is East African Permian synapsids.