Dr. José V. Lemos graduated as a Civil Engineer at the University of Porto, Portugal, in 1978, and obtained his PhD in Geo-engineering at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA, in 1987. He participated in the development of the UDEC/3DEC discrete element codes at Itasca Consulting Group, and has been involved in a wide range of applications of discontinuum models in rock mechanics, concrete dam foundations and structural engineering. Presently, he is a Principal Researcher at LNEC (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering) in Lisbon, Portugal. His research interests include safety assessment of dam foundations in rock masses, seismic analysis of masonry structures, and discrete element modelling of geomechanical and structural problems.