*** On 22/01/2018 Mara Lisa Vieira Alves got a PhD in Biology-Molecular Genetics by ITQB-NOVA at NOVA University. Early degrees include an MSc (plus a 4-year University degree, 26/07/2006) in Cell Biology and Biotechnology from Faculty of Sciences-University of Lisbon on 11/01/2008. *** Since the conclusion of her PhD, she worked for two years as a Postdoc researcher at the Vaz Patto’s Lab, Genetics and Genomics of Plant Complex Traits Lab at GREEN-IT/ITQB-NOVA. *** During her PhD she was mostly interested in developing decision-tools, based on the integration of phenotypic and genotypic data, to support quality-oriented breeding programs in maize. For that, she used population genomic approaches to understand the evolution of genetic diversity along with participatory breeding, and combined phenotypic (agronomic and quality data) with genotypic data to set up a decision-tool to support future breeding activities and genetic resources management in a context of participatory maize breeding. Additionally, she gave the first steps on the identification of genetic variants associated with maize bread quality parameters using genome-wide association approaches. During this period, she developed a particular interest in data analysis and data integration to maximize data-driven knowledge extraction from already existing data resources. *** She published nine papers in international peer-review journals, five of these as first author and four as the corresponding author. Six papers have appeared in TOP20% Plant Sciences or Agronomy Journals (such as Front Plant Sci). In her professional activities interacted with 60 collaborator(s) co-authorship of scientific papers. She has also contributed to 2 book chapters, one of them a popular review (DOI: 10.5772/52951, +2,000 downloads) on participatory plant breeding. *** She has also been actively presenting her work, with more than 30 international forum presentations (5 as oral presentations) to date. Since 2015 she is a member of EUCARPIA - European Association for Research on Plant Breeding and a usual presence in their Biometrics for Plant Breeding meetings which allowed her to be a part of a vibrant academic and private sector international network, always in the frontline of data analysis in plant breeding. *** Additionally and during her two years as a Postdoc, she has also extended her international network of collaborators by working first on the EU project DIVERSIFOOD – Embedding crop diversity and networking for local high-quality food systems (H2020-633571), where her main activities include analysis of high-throughput GC-MS data and GWAS of aroma volatiles and health beneficial compounds in maize flour; and afterward on the EU project DIVERSify - Designing InnoVative plant teams for Ecosystem Resilience and Agricultural Sustainability (H2020-727284), where her main activities include the analysis of morpho-physiological data of grasses and forages species.