- Mayor, Municipality of Bragança
- Former Secretary of State for Regional Development at the Portuguese Government (2019-2024). Former deputy at Portuguese Parliament (2025-2025). Full Professor at the Polytechnic University of Bragança (Portugal), of which she was Vice-President, Director of the Mountain Research Center and Mentor of the MORE and AQUAValor Collaborative Laboratories. Former President of the Scientific Council of Natural and Environmental Sciences of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), President of the Chromatography Group of the Portuguese Society of Chemistry, member of the Steering Committee "Strategic Basic Research" Foundation Flanders (FWO) and member of the Committee of Experts monitoring the European Framework Programmes H2020 and Horizon Europe. She obtained her Degree in Biochemistry (1996) at the University of Porto (Portugal); Master in Sciences (1999), PhD in Sciences- Chemistry (2003), and “Aggregation” in Sciences- Chemistry (2011) at the University of Minho (Portugal). She is one of the most cited researchers in the world (top 1%), having been distinguished in the last 10 years in the Essential Science Indicators index, one of the most prestigious indicators of research quality. Her work includes the publication of 4 international books, 60 book chapters, more than 1000 scientific articles and several national and European patents, most of them resulting from technology transfer to industry, some of them being the basis for the creation of spin-offs. She received several distinctions such as the Gulbenkian Prize for Stimulating Scientific Research; the recognition for the dissemination of Portuguese science in the world, and mentioned by Ciência Viva – National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture, in the book Women in Science; In 2019 she received the European Social Innovation Award from the European Commission; in 2022 she was distinguished by Superbrands as a personality of excellence in the area of Science.
