Mikhail S. Benilov received the Diploma degree (Hons.) and the C.Sc. (Ph.D.) degree in physics from the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia, in 1974 and 1978, respectively, and the Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences degree from the Institute for High Temperatures, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, in 1990. His thesis focuses on theory of electrostatic probes and electrodes in high-pressure flowing plasmas.

He had been with the Institute for High Temperatures, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, where he led a group working in plasma and nonlinear physics, numerical modelling, and fluid dynamics, after completing postgraduate courses with the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology and Institute for Mechanics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, in 1977. Dr. Benilov received the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship in 1990 and stayed for two years with the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, working on the theory and simulation of near-electrode phenomena. Since 1993, he has been a Professor with the Department of Physics, University of Madeira. He has published 150 papers in international journals, supervised 8 Ph. D. theses, and has led a number of research projects with pubic and industrial funding. He is a member of Sociedade Portuguesa de Física and Fellow of Institute of Physics UK and served in 2003-2016 on the Editorial Board of the journal Plasma Sources Science and Technology.

His current research interests include plasma physics, in particular, plasma-electrode interaction, nonlinear physics, kinetic theory, and numerical modelling.