Paula V Morais: Bachelor in Biology, PhD in Microbiology, Associate Professor with Aggregation (2017) in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Coimbra. Member of CEMMPRE, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/C-9756-2014; http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1939-6389. She is the coordinator of a research team currently with 5 PhDs, working in environmental microbiology in three main areas: Biotechnology and bioremediation (production of biotools); the role of microbiomes; and microbial diversity and taxonomy. She is the editor of PLOS One and Frontiers. Of the work carried out to date, she is the author/co-author of more than 142 publications which include 11 peer-reviewed book chapters, and 124 articles (77 ISI in the last 10 years) in international scientific journals indexed to the ISI system. She is co-editor of 1 book of summaries with ISBN, with printed and digital versions. More than 82.9% of scientific articles were published in journals with an impact index in the first quartile (Q1) of their specific areas, with 42% as the corresponding author and 62% as the last author. She is/was responsible at FCTUC for (i) 5 European projects (H2020 – Biorecover; ERAMIN – Reviving and BioCriticalMetals; European Innovation Partnership in Raw Materials - Commitment BioAlMinore; PRIMA - SIRAM), (ii) 9 projects financed by FCT in the IC&DT project competition in all scientific domains, (iii) 1 CRUP-DAAD project - Geomicrobiological tools and (iv) 1 INOV-C DUST+ project and 1 PRR Microelectrónica. As a member of the research team, she participates/ed in 15 other projects approved in competitive financing and the ARISE and RENATURE Strategic Projects. She raised €4.5M for the UC as project coordinator. She is co-inventor of 3 provisional patent applications, one in 2023 in partnership with Solancis where she developed a bio-based solution to treat wastewater from the quarry industry. At UC, created and is the director of the Bacterial Culture Collection and the Technological Platform in Microbiology, a founder of the network of the MIRRI-PT National Network of Culture Collections, which integrates the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures of Strategic Interest by the FCT (RNIE). Created the Lusophone Microbiology Network, which includes 6 African and South American countries and Macau, to collaborate and train scientists in the field of microbiology. Participates/ed in scientific management bodies: Assembly of Members of ERIC-MIRRI, board of the Portuguese Society of Microbiology, FCTUC Assembly, FCTUC Coordination Council, CEMMPRE Coordinating Committee, Management Committee of the Biochemistry Department, coordination of the IAV Microbiology Unit. She created and is the coordinator of the Master course in Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology at the UC and was for 6 years the coordinator of the Biochemistry Bachelor at UC. Her experience in supporting career development includes 2 researchers on sabbatical leave, 7 post-doctoral researchers and 22 researchers in funded projects. To date, she supervise/ed 15 PhD theses, 35 Master's theses. She coordinated 3 professional internships. She co-organises summer internships for Biology and Biochemistry undergraduate students (25) with UC. She made 117 oral presentations, of which 42 were invited talks, 16 invited as part of advanced training courses and 60 in conferences. She also carried out 96 communications in the form of a panel. In 2023, she was a keynote speaker at the Biomining’23, Bioremid2023 and Microbiotec´23. She received the Coimbra Innovation Park Award - Business Ideas Competition. Arrisca C -University of Coimbra. In the last 10 years, in scientific dissemination with K12 children, she received 3 honoree mentions and 3 awards at Fundação Ilídio Pinho. She received Prémio Magazine SPM 2017 from Portuguese Society for Microbiology, and the best oral presentation in 2014. She was selected as a Women in Science by Ciência Viva Portuguese Project 2023.