Pedro Encarnação Biography

Pedro Encarnação is a Senior Affiliate Professor at CATÓLICA-LISBON – Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP). He received the B.Sc. degree in 1994, the M.Sc. degree in 1998, and the Ph.D. degree in 2002, all in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Universidade de Lisboa, in Portugal. In the area of Rehabilitation Engineering, Pedro has been involved in research projects exploring the potential of robots as assistive technologies to support manipulation for children with neuromotor impairments, enabling these children to play and to participate in academic activities that require manipulation. He served as co-chair of the COST Action LUDI – Play for Children with Disabilities (2014-2018), a pan-European network of more than 100 multidisciplinary researchers and practitioners working towards enabling play for children with disabilities. Pedro co-edited the books “Guidelines for supporting children with disabilities’ play. Methodologies, tools, and contexts.” (DeGruyter Open Access, 2018) and “Robotic Assistive Technologies: Principles and Practice” (CRC Press: 2017). With Jan Polgar, Emma Smith, and Al Cook, Pedro is a co-author of the 6th edition of the seminal book “Assistive Technologies. Principles and Practice” (Elsevier, 2025). He published several articles in the main Rehabilitation Engineering journals and conference proceedings. He serves on the editorial boards of Assistive Technology, Technology and Disability, and International Journal of Disability and Social Justice. Pedro received the RESNA Honorary Fellow Award in 2025.