Manuel is conducting a Ph.D. in The doctoral program in Biology by the University of Lisbon starting in 2024 within the Freshwater and Invasion Biology Group of CE3C. He is conducting the project "How to end control and eradication programs of invasive species on dendritic stream networks", under the supervision of Professor Rui Rebelo from CE3C and Professor Dennis Rödder from the The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change.