Ana Catarina Sousa graduated in biology by the University of Aveiro in 2001, and completed her PhD in Biology in September 2009 from the same institution. During her career she worked at several foreign institutions including the University of Coruña, Spain; the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland; the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan; the Center for Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), Japan; The Colorado School of Mines, USA; Hokkaido University, Japan. Her first postdoc under the theme Human Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Levels, Pathways and Health Risk Assessment was developed between Portugal (University of Aveiro and University of Beira Interior) and Japan (CMES, Ehime University). Her second postdoc was developed at CICECO, University of Aveiro and focused on the evaluation of toxicological properties of ionic liquids and the development of new strategies for the purification of biomarkers to be used as in early-stage diagnosis of chronic diseases. Between October 2017 and September 2018, she was a researcher at Centre National de la Reserche Scientifique - CNRS, in France, and her work focused on the environmental determinants of respiratory diseases. Upon finishing her contract with CNRS, she moved to Japan, as a lecturer of Environmental Toxicology at Hokkaido University. Between January 2019 and March 2021, she was a researcher at CICECO, Aveiro University. In April 2021 she moved to Évora University, Portugal, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology. Since November 2022 she is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Évora, Portugal and integrated researcher at the Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC). She completed the supervision of one PhD, 27 MSc and 35 BSc theses, and is currently supervising six PhD thesis, one MSc thesis and four BSc thesis. Her main research interests and experience include the evaluation of exposure levels and pathways to environmental contaminants, particularly endocrine disrupting chemicals, and the use pets as sentinels, promotors, and forecasters of human health. She is also interested in the use of Ionic Liquids as alternative solvents and in the characterization of their in vitro and in vivo toxicological properties. The degree of internationalization of A.C.Sousa is supported by the publications with 185 distinct authors, 57 of which from international institutions. Sousa published 3 books, 8 book chapters and 62 papers in peer-reviewed journals (45% as corresponding author). She has filled 3 national and 3 international patents, one of which already licenced. She coordinated/participated in 23 R&D projects, funded by national and international agencies. She is regularly appointed as an expert for the evaluation of European Commission projects, including Horizon 2020, ERA NET calls, and COST Open Calls. She is also an external evaluator for the French National Agency of Research.