Ana Vera Machado is an Associate Professor with Habilitation in the Polymer Engineering Department at the University of Minho in Portugal. She received her PhD degree in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Minho in 2000. Her main scientific research areas, both at the department and research center, are polymer modification, polymerization, copolymerization, polymers blends, polymer nanocomposites and online monitoring, which aim at developing nanostructured, sustainable, functional and smart materials. Currently, she supervises 6 PhD students and 2 Post-Doctoral research fellows. Along her career, she has supervised 8 Post-Doctoral researcher fellows, 16 PhD and 39 MSc students and 45 Researchers in scientific and technical projects. She is a regular contributor to well renowned journals and sought after for large scale speaking engagements, among other things. Ana Machado has published over 182 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, authored 16 book chapters and presented over 200 communications in international conferences. More than 40% of papers were published in journals with an impact factor above 4.0, and 60% with an impact factor above 3.0. The average journal’s impact factor for her publications over the last 5 years publications is 4.3. Additionally, in 19 of the 146 published papers Ana Machado is the first author and in 43 papers she was the work supervisor. Her national and international recognition is demonstrated by the number of invitations received to talks given scientific events (26), number of participations in PhD (10) and MSc (more than 20) evaluation panels, the number of reviews made for international peer-reviewed journals (an average of 20 per year), and her participation in the organization of several international conferences and workshops. Ana Machado also sat on evaluation committees for national and international projects, for example, since 2013 she has integrated the evaluation panel of the Marie Curie grant calls, which are organized by the European Research Council). Moreover, since 2013 she is Associated Editor on the Journal of Polymer Engineering. Ana Machado has strong collaborations with international and national research groups, and has participated in several national and international Research and Development projects (mainly funded by international companies). She coordinated 8 scientific projects of major relevance for the development of new polymeric materials (e.g. BIOPACK, n-STeP, TSSiPRO). She is currently coordinating 2 large scale scientific projects (Embalagem do Futuro and Smart Pack) and has previously integrated the research team of 15 scientific projects. Ana Machado continues to hold a number of leadership positions. She was the Director of the Institute for Polymers and Composites (IPC, R&D Institution), and member of the Executive Commission and President of the i3N (Associated Laboratory in the area of nanomaterials and nanotechnology). She was also the head of the Department of Polymer Engineering and, currently, is the Deputy Director of IPC. Moreover, she was the Course Director of the Integrated Master in Materials Engineering from September of 2007 to August of 2009, integrated the respective Advisory Committee, from January of 2009 to January 2011, and was the Erasmus Coordinator of the Materials area, from September of 2007 to September of 2016. Finally, it is noteworthy that Ana Machado always achieved the maximum mark “excellent” in the professor’s assessments performed since 2014 by the School of Engineering at University of Minho, Ana Machado has always been classified with the maximum mark “excellent”.