Isabel Pombo Cardoso's academic background includes degrees in history, archaeological sciences, and conservation. As a researcher, her singularity is the merge of competencies in social sciences, natural sciences, and conservation of Cultural Heritage (CH); together with 12 years of effective conservation, as the leader of a company working in conservation of major artworks classified as National Heritage for the Portuguese government. In 2021, she was awarded an Assistant Researcher contract (2021.01436.CEECIND) on the very competitive call ‘Scientific Employment Stimulus’ by FCT (1st place). As well, she is the Investigator Responsible for the awarded funded research project (PTDC/ART-OUT/5992/2020), and since 2017 she implemented & leads a research group focused on a unique comparative study of the materials and practices used to produce Medieval Portuguese & European polychrome sculpture, tracing the threads with other geographic & chronological distant civilizations. Polychrome sculpture is a foremost artistic expression in human history and, in view of this importance, the lack of knowledge and research into the production of these artworks is striking. The present research aims at a comprehensive understanding of these artworks, for their valorisation and preservation, which has long-term benefits to society in general. The production of CH is intrinsic to human being. As so, CH plays a vital role in the development of society in general, but chiefly in the improvement of the relationships amid different cultures. Therefore it is a mission to fully understand and to preserve CH, which is the work that is being developed in this research project. Besides, the study of the materials and practices used to produce these artworks grants the recovery and understanding of forgotten pre-industrial technologies, making possible the reproduction and commercialization of materials and practices used in the past. Those technologies possess important advantages that can be reused nowadays. Namely, they can be safely used on the treatment of artworks due to their compatibility with the original materials, as well as they can be used for modern purposes presenting huge ecological and economic benefits, like, they grant a strong social & economic impact on communities still empowered to use those solutions. Another important aspect of this research is the comprehensive understanding of degradation mechanisms, which leads to the establishment of optimal conditions where these artworks should be safely guarded. The implementation of those effective guidelines hugely retards the inevitable natural degradation processes, reducing immensely the loss of invaluable heritage, the costs spent on conservation and restoration treatments, as well as the need for those treatments, which frequently make use of non-friendly materials. Finally, it is essential that the resultant knowledge is communicated to the major institutions in charge of CH (e.g. museums) promoting their autonomy, and to society in general. These are the key contributions of this research project. To fulfill this project several collaborations were established, namely with: the Portuguese national museums; the University of Oslo, for comparative studies with northern European collections; and Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, housing the oldest sculptures in the Iberian Peninsula; International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, for access to SEM-EDS; Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH-Zürich, for Radiocarbon dating of paint layers. In addition, she maintains regular collaborations with several national & international institutions, as a conservation scientist advisor (e.g.National Trust, UK). Her analytical work competencies applied to CH include: OM; SEM-EDS; µ-Raman; µ-EDXRF; µ-PIXE; µ-XRD; and she collaborates with national & international experts in µ-FTIR. Also, the supervision of several master students & 4 PhD students contributes to this study.