Francisco de Lacerda was born in 1952 in Leiria, Portugal. He got a degree in Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications and Electronics, from Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, in 1974, and moved to Sweden in 1980, where he got a PhD in Phonetics at Stockholm University, in 1987. He became a Swedish citizen in 1992 and a Full Professor in Phonetics at Stockholm University in 2005, also serving as Head of the University’s Department of Linguistics from 2008 to 2020. In 2011 he was selected to become a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and is currently (2019 – 2024) the deputy head of Class X – Class of Humanities and Outstanding Services to Science. He served in several of the Swedish and the Portuguese Research Councils’ evaluation panels (1999 – 2021). In August 2021 he became Professor Emeritus but continues to participate in Stockholm University’s and The Royal Academy of Science’s science and education initiatives. In addition to his academic commitments, Francisco de Lacerda is now also an active member of the Swedish Association of Professional Photographers, and pursues his long-time engagements as amateur musician (flute) in a local wind orchestra as well as enthusiastic participant in work-out and jazz-dance classes.