Fernando Bessa Ribeiro is associate professor with habilitation at the Department of Sociology of the Institute of Social Sciences – University of Minho and an integrated researcher at CICS - University of Minho. Capitalism and development, gender and sexuality and HIV/AIDS infection are the main themes of research, on which he published several books and articles in national and foreign journals. More recently, he has also started to work on urban issues, being a member of a research project, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology.