Technical and Scientific Director at Food4Sustainability CoLab. Scientific researcher with over 15 years of experience in the field of Physiology and Functional genomics of yeasts with a role in Food and Industrial Biotechnology. Invited assistant professor for laboratory courses on Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Molecular Biology and Genetics. Co-author of 22 publications in international journals with peer review (10 as the first author, 4 as the corresponding author), 2 conference papers, and one book chapter (h-index 17). Participation and coordination of national and international funded projects.

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David Miguel Ribeiro Vieira Santos is a Senior Project Manager at Food4Sustainability, where he works in the submission and management of projects related to regenerative agriculture and sustainable food production. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the School of Agriculture of the University of Lisbon, where he held positions of research assistant, PhD researcher and Invited Professor, from 2017 to 2024. During this time, he presented research in several international conferences and published over 30 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, outputs of different national and European-level projects. 

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Silvia Alexandra Monteiro Moreira is currently a by-product valorization & management specialist and project manager at Food4Sustainability. She finished her PhD in Food Science and Technology and Nutrition at University of Aveiro, Minho and Catholic University of Portugal, financed by FCT (Portugal) in February 2020, with a thesis on "Evaluation of high-pressure as a novel nonthermal extraction technology to obtain extracts with improved biological activities". She also concluded her MSc in Food Biotechnology (2014), and her BSc in Biotecnology (2012) at University of Aveiro. Silvia A, Moreira worked as fellow research in several scholarships, from 11/2014 to 01/2021. Silvia A. Moreira counts on several publications, being author or co-author of 21 research papers published in renowned peer-review scientific journals, 9 book chapters, 9 international oral communications, 7 national oral communications, 11 international posters, 3 national posters, and 5 collaborations in other publications.

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Carmen Asensio Sánchez-Manzanera is a researcher and head of the Department of Field crops at the Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León, with over 20 years of experience in plant breeding, field crop research, and agricultural innovation. She holds a PhD from the Universitat of Lleida. Principal investigator of several national research projects and has co-authored multiple publications in international journals. She has contributed to several collaborative research projects. Extensive involvement in public-private sector collaboration and dissemination activities. 

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María Alonso-Ayuso is a researcher at the Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León. She holds a PhD in Agronomy from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Her research focuses on the impact of agricultural management practices on crop performance, soil nitrogen, and water dynamics, with a particular interest in climate change adaptation strategies for Mediterranean agroecosystems. She has published more than 25 papers in peer-reviewed SCI journals, and has participated in numerous national and international projects, and has made several contributions to scientific congresses. In addition to her academic work, she actively engages in dissemination activities, including technical workshops and publications in sector magazines. 

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Nádia Luísa Castanheira is from the Soil Laboratory at the Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária in Oeiras, Portugal. She holds a PhD in Biology from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB António Xavier) and a Master’s degree in Management and Conservation of Natural Resources from the School of Agriculture from Universidade de Lisboa. She has been researching in soil science for 25 years, focusing on sustainable soil management in agriculture, aimed at protecting and preserving soil against erosion, microbial biofertilisation, assessing and preventing soil salinisation in irrigated soils and modelling water and solutes dynamics in soil. She has published over 30 ISI-indexed papers and participated in 17 international and national R&D projects on agricultural soils. She actively communicates scientific and R&D results in scientific events, outreach events for a broader audience, technical workshops, and other dissemination activities.   

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Ana Marta Paz works at the Soil Laboratory at the Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária in Oeiras, Portugal. An agronomist by training, she graduated from the School of Agriculture of the University of Lisbon and holds a PhD in Energy and Environmental Engineering from Mälardalen University in Sweden. Her research focuses on the study and monitoring of salt-affected soils, modelling of soil-water-plant systems, and organic carbon stock in agricultural soils. Her broader research interest lies in understanding the reciprocal relationship between soils and climate change. She also involved in science communication and knowledge transfer, regularly publishing articles for farmers and non-scientific audiences, and as an active member of the Portuguese Society of Soil Sciences, where she has led initiatives to raise awareness about the importance and knowledge of soil.

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Raquel Mano is a researcher at INIAV, working in the Laboratory of Agricultural Chemistry Rebelo da Silva (LQARS), which is part of the Environment and Natural Resources Area of INIAV, I.P. Her primary focus is on soil analysis to evaluate soil fertility and assess contamination levels, particularly with heavy metals, soil monitoring and soil protection from contamination caused by agricultural activities. An agronomist since 1991, she has extensive experience in soil analysis and pot trials, particularly in relation to the recovery of copper-contaminated vineyard soils. She holds a Master’s degree in Plant Nutrition, Soil Fertility, and Fertilization (1996), during which she studied copper contamination in vineyard soils in the Dão, Ribatejo, and Oeste wine regions of Portugal. She has a PhD in Environmental Science (2012) focusing on the evaluation of plant-available cadmium in soils. She has participated in several European (e.g., Biosoil, EJP SOIL) and national research projects. She has also been the technical manager of the LQARS Soil Analysis Laboratory (LAS) from 2006 to 2011 and again from 2014 to the present.
 

Maria Regina Rodrigues de Sousa Botelho de Gusmão Valério Menino is Assistant Researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural and Veterinary Research (INIAV, I.P.), in Oeiras, since 2005, where she has developed her activity in the area of Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition. She has a degree in Agricultural Engineering (Évora University), and obtained a PhD in Agricultural Engineering, from the Technical University of Lisbon, at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, in Lisbon. To date, she has been involved in more than 40 research projects (national and international), participated in the organization of several technical and scientific events, was a mentor in some professional internships, was a reviewer of scientific articles in several publications, both in conferences (national and international) as well as in scientific journals, and participated in more than 150 technical-scientific meetings. He has more than 100 publications, in the form of book chapters, scientific and technical articles, conference communications and reports. She gave 13 oral communications at national events and 6 at international events. Currently her research focuses on the agronomic valorization of organic compounds, namely insect excrement (frass), focusing on soil/plant/water interactions, taking into account the environment.

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