Senior Program Manager
João Costa joined GDN in 2018 and is based in Belgium.
João received his Masters in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minho, Portugal. He has a specialization in Translational Medicine and is a former PhD Candidate in Medical Sciences. Prior to joining GDN, João was a Scientific Officer at the European Research Council (Executive Agency) at the European Commission where he managed, supported the evaluation and did the scientific and financial monitoring/assessment of million euro grants on projects related to the field of Life Sciences (in particular on Diagnostics, Therapies, Applied Medical Technology, and Public Health). João previously gained experience in the youth field and academic mobility (within the Erasmus+ program) as President of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) Portugal and was also the Liaison Officer (LO) of ESN International towards the Europeans Students Union and the Lifelong Learning Platform, as well as a member of the Expert Group of the European Youth Forum on "Erasmus+ and funding of youth organizations". Furthermore, he has acted as Evaluator for the European Commission on calls related to Higher Education, youth, and non-formal education topics.
João joined GDN in October 2018 as a Program Associate. His responsibilities were increased to Senior Program Manager in January 2021, when he started to manage the Global Development Awards Competition – an initiative administered by GDN, funded under the Policy and Human Resources Development Fund (PHRD) trust fund which is managed by the World Bank, and generously supported by the Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan. João also provides support on the planning, implementation, and documentation of the Doing Research program.
email: jcosta@gdn.int