Maria Lúcia Pato has a PhD in Business and Management Studies from the University of Porto and a PhD in Tourism from the University of Aveiro. She has also a MSc in Agronomic Engineering from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, a MSc in Management of Rural Development from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, and a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. She is an Adjunt Professor in the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (IPV), at the Agrarian School. Presently, among others, she lectures subjects related to Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Management and Tourism at the IPV. She is also coordinator of the Polieempreende project in the Agrarian School. She integrates the Research Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society (CERNAS) of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Maria Lúcia Pato has participated in several national and international conferences on Entrepreneurship and related themes, where she was a member of the organizing and/or scientific committee in some. Furthermore, she has participated in several projects concerning entrepreneurship , tourism and rural development. She was also the IPV manager of the project ORTE (The Overall Rural Tourism Experience and sustainable local community development), which was an FCT project and the IPV manager of the recent financed FCT project Twine (Co-creating sustainable Tourism & WINe Experiences in rural areas). She is author and co-author of several publications on entrepreneurship related articles at the national and international level and reviewer of some international journals. Her present research interests are entrepreneurship and rural entrepreneurship, marketing, tourism and rural development.