He holds a degree in Physics (2001, B.A. degree) and has a master’s degree in Computational Physics (2004), both from University of São Paulo. In 2007, he got his PhD in Physics from Physics Institute of São Carlos (University of São Paulo). Since 2011, he is a merit scholar of the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq). He coordinated several research projects (including international projects). Francisco has published more than 75 papers in scientific journals, receiving more than 3,600 citations. In 2018, Francisco was a Leverhulme Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, Mathematics Institute, working at the Centre for Complexity Science. He has been working with complex networks since 2004.