Prof. Francisco Dias, holds a PhD degree in Tourism Sciences from the University of Perpignan (France). From 2010 to 2013, he was the director of the Tourism Research Unit of the Polytechnic of Leiria. He was the first editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation (EJTHR), from 2010 until 2015. He also was the founder and the first President of the EATSA – Euro-Asia Tourism Studies Association.

His empirical studies cover a large scope of tourism, mostly its psychological and sociological aspects – imaginary, social representations, destination image, motivation, perceived quality, and several aspects of destination management. He is also the vice-president of Centro de Portugal Film Commission.

Nowadays he is coordinating four important projects:

• The Observatory of Sustainable Tourism of Centro de Portugal (OTSCP)
• OLIVE4ALL – Olive Heritage for Sustainable Development: Raising Community Awareness of Living Heritage
• ART&TUR – International Tourism Film Festival
• FAST – Tools for Supporting of Sustainability in Tourism