Maria Olivia Pereira (MOP), since 2003, is Assistant Professor at University of Minho and Leading Researcher in the Bacterial Biofilms Research Group belonging to the Health Biotechnology and Bioengineering Research Line of Center of Biological Engineering (CEB) and in the Labbels - Associate Laboratory of University of Minho. She completed her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from School of Engineering of University of Minho, in 2001, and her Degree in Biological Engineering in 1993. From 2012 to 2022, she was the Director of the MSc in Environmental Management and, from 2021, Vice-Director of the Biomedical Engineering Degree. Since 2023, member of the Ethics Committee for Research in Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on the design of prophylactic and therapeutic strategies to fight biofilm- and devices-associated infections, characterization of the antimicrobial resistance phenomena of single- and multispecies consortia and the phenotypic and molecular aspects underlying biofilm-associated pathogenesis and resistance deciphering microbial communication and interspecies interactions between the residing species. MOP participates(ed) in 13 scientific research projects (4 as PI and 1 as co-Pi). She was co-editor of 3 books, guest editor of 3 scientific journals, author of 19 book chapters and ~110 peer-reviewed papers in international journals. She supervises(ed) 11 PhD projects, ~60 MsC projects, and assists 3 junior researchers. She is Associate Editor for Biofilms, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology and has been regularly participating in the FCT and FRCT Evaluation Panels in Natural and Environmental Sciences and in the French National Research Agency (ANR).