Paula Mota concluded Veterinary Medicine, at University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, in 2001. From 2001 to 2004 she acted as Small Animal Internal Medicine doctor in different veterinary clinics. She changed course and decided to enroll in the Master of Cellular and Molecular Biology at University of Coimbra in 2004. After concluding this program in 2006 she received a new scholarship for a PhD in Cell Biology, area of Animal Reproduction (2006-2011). In 2011 she was awarded a highly competitive FCT post-Doctoral fellowship and secured her own funding, crucial for an early-stage scientist, to further develop alternative methods to study and recover the fertility of endangered felids. At the starting point of her post-doctoral program she was awarded a fellowship by the Welcome Burrows Foundation (USA) to attend the “Frontiers in Reproduction” at the MBL, Woods Whole, USA, a program set to widen the researchers perspective of the Reproductive field but introducing knowledge common to many other areas of application. From 2011 to 2015 she deepened her collaboration with the German Center of Reproductive Medicine & Andrology (CeRA), partially supported by a cooperation project granted to her (Portuguese team, FCT-DAAD) from 2013 to 2015. At CeRA she researched possible methods to restart spermatogenesis ex-vivo, contacting with other animal models, namely marmosets. The challenges raised by the new scheme of science funding lead her to participate in an entrepreneurship course in 2015 to acquire and develop business skills and add Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare as another area of scientific and professional interest. In order to expand her scientific knowledge in this area and acquire the necessary skills she enrolled in the Master in Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). This program is accredited by FELASA in the category Specialist and is part of the training for Diplomats of the European College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ECLAM). In 2018 she was forced to delay the conclusion of the Master due to maternity leave. In November 2015 she joined the Animal Facility team of Center of Neuroscience and Cell Biology (FMUC/CNC Animal Facility) as Designated Veterinarian and ORBEA (Órgão Responsável pelo Bem-Estar Animal) responsible for the improvement of the 3Rs and experimental design. During her post-doctoral fellowship and funded project, Paula supervised a team of 10 members, 1 MSc student, published 3 papers as first author, 2 papers as senior author and participated in other projects, as team member or occasional collaboration, that granted her 6 papers in different areas of scientific activity. At the end of her post-doctoral fellowship, in 2017, she was hired as Designated Veterinarian and Animal Facility Coordinator of CNC Animal Facilities were she has been responsible for i) CNC_UC:BIOTECH Specific Pathogen Free and FMUC/CNC Conventional Animal Facilities management, ii) supervision of Animal Welfare, iii) ORBEA liaison member with DGAV and other Portuguese ORBEA, and iv) training of researchers in Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare, through the organization and lecturing of courses that fulfil the training requirements under EU Directive 63/2010 and DL 113/2013, and for the continuous education of the CNC ORBEA members. Since 2020 she teaches Laboratory Animal Science to Veterinary Nursery undergraduates. She continues to participate in research project, as team member or consultant, using her scientific and professional background to help bridge between scientific objectives and animal welfare and providing a dual perspective of who's in and out of the box.