Cookies Policy
The website need some cookies and similar means to function. If you permit us, we will use those means to collect data on your visits for aggregated statistics to improve our service. Find out More
Accept Reject
  • Menu
About

About

Abílio Pereira Pacheco has a PhD in the “Doctoral Program in Industrial Engineering and Management” at FEUP with Professor João Claro as advisor; is research (pos-doc) at INESC TEC, where he is working in flexible design under uncertainty applied to forest fire management systems (in the development of FIRE-ENGINE – the only Engineering Systems project approved in MIT Portugal Program calls); and he is Graduate Teaching Assistant (“assistente convidado”) at FEUP, since 2012, lecturing on “Economics and Management”, “Operations Management”, “Management”, and “Statistics for Management and Policy Research”.

In 2012, during the fall, he was a visiting student with the Engineering Systems Division at MIT. There, he worked with Professor Richard de Neufville, Ross Collins and Hèctor Fornés, and also took the courses “Science, Technology and Public Policy”, “System Dynamics”, “Engineering Systems Analysis for Design” and “Risk and Decision Analysis” with Professors Kenneth A. Oye, Anjali Sastry, John Sterman, Richard de Neufville and Mort Webster, respectively.

He won two awards in recent years, a FEUP Merit Scholarship (2010) and a University of Porto Merit Scholarship (2012).

He has an MSc in Services Engineering and Management (FEUP) completed in 2011, and an undergraduate degree in Mathematics (2009). Prior to returning to the University, he was a project manager and later a manager and director at Seara.com (2000-2006) of which he was a founding partner, and director of the Chip7 S.A. Corporate Business Division (2006-2008).

Interest
Topics
Details

Details

  • Name

    Abílio Pereira Pacheco
  • Role

    Researcher
  • Since

    01st March 2011
002
Publications

2023

Systematising experts' understanding of traditional burning in Portugal: a mental model approach

Authors
Souza, MEB; Pacheco, AP; Teixeira, JG;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WILDLAND FIRE

Abstract
Background. Traditional burning is a practice with social and ecological value used worldwide. However, given the often improper and negligent use of fire, this practice is often associated with rural fire ignitions.Aims. Systematise experts' understanding of traditional burning and identify its challenges in the Portuguese context.Methods. Twenty-eight Portuguese experts from industry, academia, NGOs and public entities with in-depth involvement in fire and forest management were interviewed to create a mental model of traditional burning in Portugal.Key results. Eight dimensions were identified: motivations behind traditional burning, alternative solutions, risks before a traditional burn, risks during a traditional burn, underlying causes of risk, exogenous elements and factors, potential impacts, and activities leading to a successful traditional burn.Conclusions. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of traditional burn practice in the Portuguese context and offers a baseline to support stakeholders and policymakers in managing traditional burning's social and environmental impacts in the future.Implications. This research offers several implications across the eight dimensions identified, including the need to improve regulations on the use of fire and fuel reduction policies, promote fire use education and feasible and affordable alternatives to traditional burning, and increase communities' commitment to mitigation actions.

2022

Analyzing the EU forestry sector to seek new market opportunities using Minimum Spanning Tree based clustering analysis

Authors
Han, J; Pacheco, AP; Rodrigues, JC;

Publication
Advances in Forest Fire Research 2022

Abstract
To enhance the economic viability and address the labour shortage in the forestry industry, alternative solutions using robotization and automation are emerging. However, due to technological barriers and lack of solid business models, successful commercialization in the forestry sector is yet to be challenging. As an initial market analysis for developing a business model for new forestry machineries, this study was conducted to reveal clusters of EU countries to seek the potential market opportunities outside of Portugal. To identify similar market conditions and restrictions, EU countries were clustered using a hierarchical clustering algorithm and selection of variables while considering the geographic, economic, and social conditions of each country. Preliminary results showed that Austria and Poland had similar social capital and geographic conditions.

2018

Operational flexibility in forest fire prevention and suppression: a spatially explicit intra-annual optimization analysis, considering prevention, (pre)suppression, and escape costs

Authors
Pacheco, AP; Claro, J;

Publication
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH

Abstract
Increasing wildfire threats and costs escalate the complexity of forest fire management challenges, which is grounded in complex interactions between ecological, social, economic, and policy factors. It is immersed in this difficult context that decision-makers must settle on an investment mix within a portfolio of available options, subject to limited funds and under great uncertainty. We model intra-annual fire management as a problem of multistage capacity investment in a portfolio of management resources, enabling fuel treatments and fire preparedness. We consider wildfires as the demand, with uncertainty in the severity of the fire season and in the occurrence, time, place, and severity of specific fires. We focus our analysis on the influence of changes in the volatility of wildfires and in the costs of escaped wildfires, on the postponement of capacity investment along the year, on the optimal budget, and on the investment mix. Using a hypothetical test landscape, we verify that the value of postponement increases significantly for scenarios of increased uncertainty (higher volatility) and higher escape costs, as also does the optimal budget (although not proportionally to the changes in the escape costs). Additionally, the suppression/prevention budget ratio is highly sensitive to changes in escape costs, while it remains mostly insensitive to changes in volatility. Furthermore, we show the policy implications of these findings at operational (e.g., spatial solutions) and strategic levels (e.g., climate change). Exploring the impact of increasing escape costs in the optimal investment mix, we identified in our instances four qualitative system stages, which can be related to specific socioecological contexts and used as the basis for policy (re)design. In addition to questioning some popular myths, our results highlight the value of fuel treatments and the contextual nature of the optimal portfolio mix.

2018

Does it pay to invest in better suppression resources?: policy analysis of alternative scenarios with simulation

Authors
Pacheco, AP; et. al.,;

Publication
Advances in forest fire research 2018

Abstract

2018

Flexible design of a helipad network for forest firefighting helicopters, applied to the case of Sardinia

Authors
Torres, H; et. al.,;

Publication
Advances in forest fire research 2018

Abstract

Supervised
thesis

2022

Recuperação da floresta no pós-fogo: avaliação económica de estratégias alternativas de reflorestação

Author
Fabio Augusto Freitas Gonçalves

Institution
UP-FEUP

2022

The forest firefighting helicopters' network in Portugal: Data analysis, optimisation, and flexible design

Author
Leonor Teixeira Cid Martins

Institution
UP-FEUP

2022

Gestão do Portefólio de Projetos de Investigação, Desenvolvimento e Inovação no SGIFR: desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta web de apoio à gestão do conhecimento

Author
Paulo Alexandre da Costa Mota

Institution
UP-FEUP

2022

Healthcare Services: Improving conventional surgical rooms through the adoption of a new service design.

Author
Eduarda Pinto Pereira

Institution
UP-FEUP

2021

Avaliação económica de estratégias alternativas de recuperação da floresta após o fogo, considerando o custo inicial e o das operações de limpeza associadas

Author
Pedro Madureira Vasconcelos Lopes

Institution
UP-FEUP