About me

My name is Rui Barros, and I spend my days transforming messy datasets into stories that actually make sense to real humans.

Currently, I'm a data journalist at PÚBLICO, Portugal's daily newspaper, where I wrangle data, build news apps, and occasionally rescue colleagues from Excel hell. I also moonlight as a professor at Universidade Lusófona, where I try to convince the next generation of journalists that coding isn't scary and that spreadsheets can be beautiful.

Before joining PÚBLICO just as the world decided to have a pandemic, I worked at Rádio Renascença, where I started on their online team and quickly became "the data guy" (a title I still wear with pride).

I am from Viana do Castelo, live in Braga and work in Porto. When I'm not debugging code or explaining why correlation doesn't imply causation, you'll find me on the tennis court (or watching one), getting lost in podcasts, or working on random data projects that seemed like a good idea at 2 AM.

I dream in pixel-perfect charts and harbor the possibly naive belief that computers can actually make the world a better place. In the future, this paragraph might be about whatever adventure I'm currently living—but for now, I'm focused on turning data into stories that matter and teaching others to do the same.

Want to collaborate on a project, discuss the latest data viz trends, or share plant care tips? I'd love to hear from you. Get in touch 📨