Miguel Carvalho

Biography

Miguel Eduardo Portela de Matos Carvalho holds a PhD in Musicology from NOVA University Lisbon (2026), with a doctoral dissertation entitled Preservation of Historical Bells: Characterization and Physical Modeling Techniques for Tuning and Sound Synthesis, supervised by Vincent Debut, José Vieira Antunes, and João Soeiro de Carvalho.

He graduated in Musical Sciences from the University of Minho in 2010 and completed his master’s degree in Musical Sciences in 2012 at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA FCSH), with a dissertation entitled The Mafra Carillons: Study and Acoustic Characterisation of the Bells, supervised by Vincent Debut.

In 2010, he joined the Institute of Ethnomusicology – Centre for Studies in Music and Dance (INET-md) and the Applied Dynamics Laboratory at Instituto Superior Técnico as a research fellow within the project PTDC/EAT-MMU/104255/2008. He subsequently continued his research at both institutions, focusing on the acoustics, characterisation, tuning, and preservation of historical bells and carillons, particularly through his doctoral research, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

He also works as a campanologist at Royal Eijsbouts Bell Foundry in Asten, the Netherlands, an internationally renowned company specialising in the manufacture, tuning, and restoration of bells and carillons. His responsibilities encompass the physical, musical, and historical aspects of bells, combining scientific research with its practical application to bell manufacturing, acoustic characterisation, tuning, and heritage preservation.

His main research interests lie in musical acoustics and organology, with particular emphasis on experimental modal analysis, physical modelling, structural dynamics, sound synthesis, and the optimisation of musical instruments, especially historical bells and carillons.

His research has been published in book chapters, international peer-reviewed scientific journals, and international conference proceedings. His work has received distinctions from the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics in 2014 and the Portuguese Association of Museology in 2015.