My name is Rui Barros and I’m a data journalist/ journocoder/ news nerd currently working at PÚBLICO, a daily newspaper in Portugal. I use data and code to tell stories, build newsapps, develop useful data-driven features or simply help someone by scraping a website.

Before moving to PÚBLICO - right before the Covid-19 pandemic - I worked at Rádio Renascença , a national radio broadcaster, where I started my career on their online team and quickly became the data guy.

In 2020, right before moving to my new job, my “Can I really afford to live in this place?” news app was shortlisted on the “best news application” category at the Sigma Awards 2020.

Always divided between Sciences and Humanities, I was working hard in high school to become an engineer. That's when I found out that what I really loved was news, information, newspapers and online journalism.

In 2012 I started my degree in Communication Sciences at University of Minho, when I had my first statistics classes and finally understood what maths was for. When I found Guardian’s Data Blog, NYTimes Upshot and FiveThirtyEight, understood that those passions could live together gracefully.

During that time, I gave the first steps in journalism at the academic online newspaper ComUM Online, where I did everything from editorial planning to build a new website.

I currently live in Braga, in the North of Portugal, where i share a flat with seven plants. When I’m not working, I enjoy cooking, reading, listening to podcasts, drinking beer or doing a random data project for fun.