José Manuel Bioucas-Dias was a professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, where he obtained all his degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering (BSc in 1985, MSc in 1991, PhD in 1995 and Aggregation in 2007) and where he spent his entire academic career (from monitor in 1984, trainee assistant, assistant, assistant professor, associate professor and full professor). He was also a senior researcher at the Institute of Telecommunications, having been part of IT since its foundation.

José Bioucas-Dias has dedicated his research to the area of signal and image processing, with emphasis on the so-called "inverse problems" and with a focus on applications to remote sensing. In this area, he is considered a world authority, having contributed to highly relevant and influential scientific and technical advances.

For his scientific contributions, José Bioucas-Dias was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2016. In 2017, he received the David Landgrebe Award, from the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS), with the citation "For outstanding contributions in the field of remote sensing image analysis". It should also be noted that in 2018 he was named Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE GRSS. In 2015, 2019, 2020 and 2021 he integrated the prestigious list "Highly Cited Researchers", reserved to the world elite of researchers with the highest impact in their fields.

In addition to being an outstanding researcher, a world reference in remote observation image processing, José Bioucas-Dias has also had a remarkable career of dedication to teaching and advanced training. He has supervised and co-guided 20 PhDs and more than 10 post-doctoral trainees from Europe and China. He created the first PhD discipline on inverse problems in image processing and, during his career, he has taught numerous subjects, always with great dedication and very high pedagogical and scientific quality, in the areas of signal processing, telecommunications, estimation and detection theory, information and communication theory, remote observation, to mention only the most significant.

José Bioucas-Dias contributed in a remarkable way to the progress and enhancement of engineering science in Portugal and in the world, as well as to the international projection and prestige of the country.

His untimely death is an enormous loss and a deep sadness for all who knew him closely.

by Mário Figueiredo, full professor at Instituto Superior Técnico