Bernardo Almeida is an Assistant Professor at the Leiden University College (LUC) and a Researcher at the Van Vollenhoven Institute (VVI). He specializes in land, law, lawmaking and development.

Bernardo has a background in law, and started his professional career as a lawyer in Portugal. He then moved to Timor-Leste in 2009, first as a property rights lecturer at the National University, and later as a Ministry of Justice legal advisor for the land sector, responsible for legal drafting and analysis. Since 2015 Bernardo has also worked as a consultant in Timor-Leste, Afghanistan, Angola, Laos and South Sudan for organizations including UNDP, UN Habitat, World Bank and The Asia Foundation, with special focus on land-related legislation.