Research. Dr. Virtudes has a research track record of 25+ years, both at the public (local authorities/municipalities and universities) and private sectors (architecture and urban design offices). She has supervised 120+ academic researches, focused on spatial analyses and urban design including Master Dissertations in Architecture, Master Dissertations in Civil Engineering, Ph.D Thesis in Architecture and Ph.D Thesis in Civil Engineering, having as case studies cities in America (Detroit in the United States of America, Maringá in Brazil and Caracas in Venezuela), Africa (Praia in Cape Verde Islands, Uíge in Angola and São Tomé in São Tomé and Prince), Middle East (Dubai in the United Arab Emirates), Asia (Pante Macassar in East-Timor), Europe (Berlin in Germany, Stockholm in Sweden, Gliwice in Poland) and Portugal Funchal in Madeira Island and many others, some of them written in English. Her academic background comprises a multidisciplinary approach in the domains of Urban Design, Architecture, Spatial Planning, Modern Cities and Local Authorities including a knowledge of spatial planning and environment law, given her attendance to Universities in Portugal (Aveiro, Lisbon, Coimbra and Beira Interior), Spain (Valladolid), Estonia (Tallinn) and UK (University of Cambridge) in a lifelong education approach. Dr. Virtudes has published and attended to national and international scientific events in several countries such as Albania, Austria, Azores Islands, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Madeira Island, Malta, Mozambique, Poland, Cape Verde Islands, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, UK or USA. She has been member of scientific board, referee or chair of several of these events. She has the experience as a researcher in R&D institutions such as the University Institute of Urbanism (University of Valladolid, Spain), C-MADE Centre of Materials and Building Technologies and GeoBioTec (University of Beira Interior), CIAUD Research Centre of Architecture, Urbanism and Design (University of Lisbon), CEAA Research Centre Arnaldo Araújo (ESAP, Artistic Higher School of Oporto) and LISA Lab. for Interdisciplinary Spatial Analysis (University of Cambridge, UK). Teaching. Dr. Virtudes has 25 years of experience as a lecturer at the University, teaching in several countries (Slovakia, Jordan, Romania, Czech Republic and Greece). She has been the coordinator of the following Units (taught in Portuguese and in English): Transversal Skills; Urban Planning; Urban and Regional Planning; Project in Urban Planning and Design; Urbanism; and Urban Management (Under-graduation Degree in Civil Engineering); City Planning; City Project; Urban and Regional Planning (Master Degree in Civil Engineering); History of Architecture I; Urbanism and Spatial Planning; Urban Planning; Urban Design; Human Geography; and Research Methodologies (Integrated Master Degree in Architecture); e-City Research Methodologies¿ (Ph.D in Civil Engineering); Territorial Shapes (Ph.D in Architecture); GIS and Cultural Heritage (Master Degree in GIS). Local Authorities. Dr. Virtudes has an experience of 5 years working exclusively as urban designer and town planner at local authorities (Bombarral and Alcanena) in Portugal. As a scholar at the University she has been responsible for researches with local authorities (Belmonte, Bombarral, Covilhã, Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, Fundão and Manteigas) in domains such as the following: housing, infrastructures, greenery, urbanization developments, I-tech hub localization, detailed local plans, municipal master plans among others.