Rosário Domingues graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Coimbra (1990), received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry (1998), and Habilitation in Biochemistry (2014), the University of Aveiro. Since 2016 she held the contract of associated professor with habilitations in the Mass Spectrometry Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro (UA). She has over 25 years of research experience in the field of mass spectrometry. She is a well-established researcher in the field of lipidomics, oxidative lipidomics, food and algae lipidomics, and glycomics. She is the leader of the Lipidomic Laboratory of the Mass Spectrometry Centre of the UA.

She has taken part in several juries for academic exams, and scientific committees for congresses, and has supervised post-doctoral, doctoral, and master’s students. She is the author of a book and six book chapters and has published more than 220 articles in leading international journals.

Furthermore, Rosário Domingues is Deputy Head of the Chemistry Department and presently is the Director of the UA Doctoral Program.

Leonel Pereira has a degree in Biology (Scientific branch) and a PhD in Biology (specializing in Cell Biology) from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra, where he is currently a Associate Professor with Habilitation.

As well as teaching at this university, he is also a researcher at CFE – Center for Functional Ecology: Science for People & Planet. He is currently Master Degree in Biodiversity and Plant Biotechnology Coordinator, LAM – Marine Algae Lab. Coordinator, and ACOI – Coimbra Collection of Algae Coordinator. His interests focus mainly on the areas of Marine Biodiversity (algae), Marine Biotechnology (bioactive compounds from macroalgae) and Marine Ecology (environmental assessment).

Since 2008, he has been the author and editor of the electronic publication MACOI – Portal Português das Macroalgas (www.uc.pt/seaweeds).

He is the author of more than 20 books and book chapters, has so far published more than 160 scientific articles in international journals, and has given more than a hundred lectures and oral communications at various national and international scientific events.

In 1998 he was awarded the Francisco de Holanda Prize (Honorable Mention) and, more recently, the King Carlos Sea Prize (18th edition), and is part of “The World’s Top 2% Scientists 2023 List released by Stanford University and Elsevier.”

Hugo Pereira holds a PhD in Marine Biotechnology from the University of Algarve. He is currently the General Manager of the GreenCoLab – Green Ocean Technologies and Products Collaborative Laboratory.

Previously, he was a research collaborator in the MarBiotech group (Centre of Marine Sciences, Portugal) and in the R&D departments of Necton S.A. (Belamandil, Portugal) and Allmicroalgae (Pataias, Portugal). He has more than 15 years of experience in algal biotechnology, covering most of the value chain, from strain bioprospection to developing novel products for different biotechnological applications.

Hugo has published around 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 4 book chapters and has performed several oral communications at international conferences (e.g., AlgaEurope, European Phycology Conference, Algae Nexus, YAS23). He has participated in different national (e.g., SEABIOMED, ALGACO2, ALGAVALOR, VALORMAR) and international projects (e.g., SABA, ALGARED+, MAGNIFICENT, SIMBA, PROFUTURE, REALM, LOCALITY, ALGAE4IBD, GIANT LEAPS) related to algal biotechnology.

Luisa Gouveia (LG) is Chemical engineer, MSc in Food Science and Technology and PhD in Biotechnology, expert in Microalgae Biotechnology. Author and co-author of 117 peer-reviewed papers, related to Microalgae on Wastewater Treatment; production of Stimulants, Fertilizers and Pesticides-based microalgae, Bioactive compounds, such as Pigments, and its use in Food and Feed; Extractions: Supercritical CO 2 , Subcritical Water and Deep Eutetic solvents; 1 book, 17 book chapters, h-index=44. 

LG has large experience in research projects, participated in a total of 43 projects all related to microalgae and Coordinated or Co-coordinated 11. 

LG has participated in 148 International and National Conferences and performed 100 oral presentations, being 48 by invitation. LG was Associate Editor of Biotechnology for Biofuels journal, six times Guest Editor of Special Issues of several journals, and regular referee of more than 90 journals and R&D projects. She supervised and co-supervised more than 100 Degree, MSc, and PhD students. Vice-Coordinator of Cost Action 1408-EUALGAE. Vice-Coordinator of Red CYTED RENUWAL; Working group leader, core group and management committee of PurpleGain Cost Action.

Joana Laranjeira Silva. Completed her PhD in Biotecnologia in 2005/09/25 at Universidade Católica Portuguesa Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, her Masters by Universidade de Coimbra, and Bachelors in Microbiology at Universidade Católica Portuguesa Escola Superior de Biotecnologia.

Joana joined A4F-Algae for Future in 2010 as a Senior Project Manager, overseeing various national and international projects. Joana left this position to work as an I&D Consultant at Necton until 2016, and then transitioned to a similar role at Secil – ALGAFARM. From 2016 to 2019, Joana worked as an R&D Manager at SECIL / Algafarm. In 2018, she began working at Allmicroalgae as R&D and Plant Manager. Currently, Joana holds the position of Head of Biotechnology at Arborea, starting in November 2022.

Joana has published over 100 articles in journals, 6 section(s) of books and 1 book(s). Co-supervised more than 4 PhD thesis(es). Joana is an expert in microalgae cultivation at the large-scale and the application of added-value compounds in different fields. She was involved in several national (ALGAVALOR, ALGAESOLUTIONS, PERFORMALGAE) and international (PROFUTURE, ZEROW, SIMBA) projects.

Born in Guimarães, PhD in Biology from the University of Porto, Full Professor at the University of Porto, Faculty of Sciences and Coordinating Researcher at the University of Porto, President of the Board of CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research) since 2013. Director of the Blue Biotechnology and Health Team (BBE) at CIIMAR. 

Director of the doctorate in Marine Biotechnology and Aquaculture and the master’s degree in Toxicology and Environmental Contamination at the University of Porto. Member of the Scientific Council for Natural Sciences of the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology). Technical and Scientific Director of the Vila do Conde Environmental Monitoring and Research Center (2007-2010). 

He has organized more than 50 activities related to Environmental Education, including 15 exhibitions, conference cycles, courses, field expeditions, workshops, and teaching materials.Member of the Editorial Board of the journals Marine Drugs and Toxins. Member of the European Marine Board since 2011.A main research focus cyanobacterial secondary metabolites: toxins and molecules with biotechnological applications. Director of the LEGE culture collection comprising more than 2,000 strains of cyanobacteria and microalgae. He has published 490 articles in Biotechnology and Ecotoxicology. Coordinator of two H2020 projects: RISE and ERA Chair.

João Varela began his working career in 1985, having been invited as a monitor to support classes on Genetics at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon from the fourth year of his Applied Plant Biology BSc degree until 1988. He obtained an MSc degree in Biotechnology, speciality Molecular Biology, at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 1990. In 1995, he earned his PhD degree at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

He was hired as a postdoc at the Netherlands Institute of Oncology (NKI). In 1998, he started as an Assistant Professor at the University of the Algarve (UALG) in the area of Genetics, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Here he began his research into microalgae. He is a founding member of the Centro de Ciências do Mar do Algarve (CCMAR; ccmar.ualg.pt). Currently, together with Luísa Barreira, he leads the MarBiotech group at CCMAR, which focuses on Microalgae Biotechnology and participates as an active member and founder of the collaborative laboratory GreenCoLab (greencolab.com). He has participated in more than 30 competitively funded projects and 2 research contracts.

He is a member of the editorial boards of Algal Research, Marine Biotechnology, Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, and Marine Drugs. He recently became an Associate Professor in Biotechnology and is the current director of the Marine Biology MSc programme at the University of Algarve.

Dr. Fengzheng Gao is an Established Researcher at ETH Zurich, specializing in Microalgae in Human Nutrition and Health. He holds two PhDs, one in Bioprocess Engineering from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and another one in Aquatic Product Processing and Storage Engineering from Ocean University of China, China.

Dr. Gao is the holder of the Spark grant and Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowship (Swiss transitional measure for the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie program) from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), and the holder of a grant from the Diamond Light Source, UK. He is also involved in the SNSF Sinergia international project and Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein project. Between 2021 and 2022, he was the Project Leader of an NWO Science XS project funded by the Dutch Research Council working on oxygen production from 3D bioprinted living microalgae for regenerative medicine.

Between 2017 and 2021, he was involved in the large European Horizon 2020 project MAGNIFICENT (16 partners from 7 European countries), working on fucoxanthin and docosahexaenoic acid production in the microalga Tisochrysis lutea. In 2021, he obtained a Scientific Exchange Grant from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) to do research at GreenCoLab, the Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR), and NECTON S.A. in Portugal. In 2022, He obtained the VLAG Research Fellowship from Wageningen University to visit University College London and University of Cambridge in the UK.

In December of 2022, Dr. Gao joined ETH Zurich as the Team Leader of the Microalgae in Human Nutrition and Health R&D, a joint strategic research line between Sustainable Food Processing Group and Laboratory of Nutrition and Metabolic Epigenetics.Dr. Gao has given more than 40 oral presentations on Microalgal Biotechnology during multiple large international conferences. Dr. Gao received the EU Young Algaeneers Innovation Award (funded by European Commission) in 2021 and the Best Microalgae Award (European Algae Biomass Association) in 2020.

Leonardo is a marine biologist (PhD) with an extensive research background in seaweed aquaculture, ecophysiology, and biotechnology, emphasizing seaweed biomass production to commercialize different products for various industries.

He has published 39 internationally peer-reviewed scientific publications, with 2000 citations. Leonardo has founded Gopsis, Lda, a CCMAR spin-off company to provide scientific consultancy and research services for the seaweed industry and for research project consortiums.

Leonardo currently works as the chief scientist of Greener Grazing (www.greenergrazing .org), the leading company working on establishing large-scale ocean-based cultivation of the red seaweed Asparagopsis.

Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), supervised by Prof. Michael Neushul, Institute of Marine Sciences and Department of Biological Sciences (07/1992); M.A. in Biology, UCSB (08/1985); Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (FCUL).

On an academic level, Ricardo is an Associate Professor, DBV, FCUL (04/2024-present), and member of Scientific Board and R&D Structures Coordinators Board of FCUL (2018-present).

On a research level, he is a Member of the Board of Directors of MARE – Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences, FCT Research Unit UID/MAR/04292/2020 (06/2022-present); Member of the Board of Directors of ARNET – Aquatic Research Network, FCT Associated Laboratory LA/P/0069/2020 (2023-present).

His research primarily investigates marine macroalgae biology and ecology, including commercial species management and cultivation, while exploring innovative biotechnological applications. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Marine Science, as Associate Editor for Marine Biology and Guest Associate Editor for Marine Ecosystem Ecology. Additionally, he has extensive teaching experience in phycology and algal biotechnology across various advanced levels of study and institutions.

Throughout his career, he coordinated and participated in numerous national and international research, development, and innovation projects, studies, and initiatives. Most recently, he focused on marine and estuarine flora, where he played a key role in monitoring and assessing ecological quality as part of the national implementation of the EU Water and Marine Strategy Framework Directives.

Maria Manuel Gil, is currently CTO for Ocean at Colab +Atlantic, Deputy Director of MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre and member of the Board of Directors of the Associate Laboratory – Aquatic Research Network (ARNET). 

She is also member of the Euromarine Steering Committee, member of the Sectoral Council for Qualification of the Blue Economy, National Agency for Qualification and Vocational Education and Training (ANQEP) and member of the Board of National Observatory of Emerging Risks-ASAE. Additionally, she was involved in the preparation of the Regional Programme for Spatial Planning of the Central Region (PROT Centro), contributing, specifically, to the thematic area A3 – Innovation and Competitiveness: Blue economy. 

Currently, she is working in four main research lines: add economic value to marine food resources, innovative food formulations with functional properties (incorporation of seaweeds extracts/compounds), marine bio-based ingredients as additives in food formulations and food structure with an emphasis on 3D printing materials. 

She has coordinated over 20 R&D projects and services to SMEs and participated as researcher member on 19 R&D projects and services to SMEs, with a global budget of 40M Eur and is evaluator for different international agencies. She has over 52 papers in peer reviewed journals, 1 national patent, 3 books and 9 book chapters published. She has supervised several PhD and Post-Doc researchers and PhD and Master Students.

Maria Cristiana Nunes has a degree and PhD in Food Engineering from ISA/ULisboa. She is a Visiting Auxiliary Researcher at ISA/ULisboa and a member of the LEAF Research Center (UI/AGR/04129). She is a Visiting Auxiliary Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon/ULisboa, specializing Food Quality Management and Food Technology and Innovation.

Main research areas of interest: Use of under-exploited food sources, such as algae biomass and food industry by-products, to develop high-value products; Exploring the functional properties of macromolecules, particularly proteins and polysaccharides; Developing new food products; Evaluating the rheological behaviour of various food matrices.  Many of her research projects are conducted in collaboration with the food industry. She was awarded the “Born from Knowledge” prize by the National Innovation Agency in 2021 and 2024 for her contributions to innovation in the field of agriculture and food.

Alexandre Rodrigues holds a licentiate degree in Microbiology and Genetics from the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon University, Portugal, and a PhD degree awarded by the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon University. His PhD studies about the in vivo regeneration of zebrafish and Xenopus tissues were developed at the Centre of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona (CMRB), Spain. After his PhD, Alexandre worked as a research technician in histology and genetics laboratories in Barcelona, after which he moved back to Portugal to work as a post-doc at the University of Algarve.

In 2017, Alexandre started collaborating with Necton S.A. as a sales consultant. Given his scientific background, in 2019 he moved to the Innovation Department as a Project Manager, becoming responsible for the ongoing R&D projects’ management, applications to new projects, and student coordination. In 2022 he was nominated Coordinator of the growing Innovation Department and in the beginning of 2023, he also became the Coordinator of Allmicroalgae’s Innovation Department, after the acquisition of this company by Necton. Alexandre now leads two teams of 6 PhDs, 4 PhD students, and 2 technicians (MsCs) in developing technology, sustainability, and innovative products.

After completing his PhD at the Politechnica University Timisoara, Romania, and the Biological Research Center Szeged, in Hungary, working on novel microbial – microalgal biohydrogen production approaches, Dr. Boboescu was offered a Mitacs Accelerate fellowship at the Sherbrooke University in QC Canada. Here, he developed and scaled-up novel second and third generation biorefinery technologies together with some of the biggest North American companies active in the fields of biofuels, biocommodities and specialty chemicals. Dr. Boboescu joined the Bioprocess Engineering (BPE) group of Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands, after securing a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship to develop a novel acoustic biorefinery approach. Presently, Dr. Boboescu is leading the Biorefinery group at BPE, working on novel extraction, fractionation and formulation technologies for microbial biotechnology applications. In this context, Dr. Boboescu is employing eutectic mixtures, enzyme cocktails and external fields (electric and acoustic) to enhance, simplify or completely rethink current downstream technologies.

Dr. Dorinde Kleinegris is Principal Investigator Microalgae at NORCE and holds a part-time position as Associate Professor in Marine Biotechnology at the University of Bergen. She has a background in bioprocess engineering from Wageningen University. The research of Dr. Kleinegris focusses on microalgae strain selection and improvement, cultivation and process design, as well as techno-economic and life cycle assessment studies of the microalgae production chain. Next to scientific participation and supervision in projects, she has strong background in project management, both of EU and national projects as well as bilateral projects with industry.

Dr. Yoichi Sato has been the Director of Riken Food Co., Ltd., in Miyagi, Japan, and manager of the research institute “Algal Research and Innovation Centre” since 2021. He has worked at Riken Food since 2005. Before that, he was an officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2001–2002) and an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tohoku University (2002–2004).His main interests are the physiology and ecology of macroalgae, mostly brown seaweed (wakame, kombu, mozuku).

 He has worked hard to show how seaweed can adapt to changes in the environment and to develop better ways to grow and process it. He also wants to make sure that seaweed is used in ways that meet market demands. He received his PhD. in Life Science from The University of Tokyo in 2016.

Dr. Maria Hayes has a degree in Science (Microbiology and Industrial Chemistry) from University College Dublin (UCD) and a PhD in Microbiology and Chemistry from University College Cork (UCC). He has a postgraduate diploma in Leadership and Development from the Institute of Managers (IMI), Dublin & UCC, Ireland and a diploma in regulatory affairs from the University of Birmingham and UU.  She joined Teagasc as a researcher on the Marine Functional Foods Research Initiative – NutraMara project in 2008 and has been interested in the use of marine resources ever since. She is an academic collaborator in the SFI-funded Bioeconomy research center (BiORBIC – https://www.sfi.ie/sfi-research-centres/Biorbic/). 

Maria has previous experience in project management (NutraMara) and has worked extensively with the marine sector since 2008. She is the current coordinator and PI of several EU projects, including Seasolutions https://seasolutions.ie/ and PI participant in the EU funded projects Algae4IBD, IDEA and IDEA plus, as well as nationally funded projects such as U-Protein.

Dr. Maria Hayes is a senior research scientist at the Teagasc Food Research Centre in Ashtown, Dublin, and an adjunct lecturer in the School of Food Science and Environmental Health at TU Dublin. She works on the development of new products with health benefits through the identification and characterization of bioactive ingredients from different marine and terrestrial resources. To do this, she uses a combination of different bioassays that she has established at Teagasc, including those relevant to the maintenance of heart health; prevention of type 2 diabetes and mental health problems, prevention of atherosclerosis, inflammation and pain, and antimicrobial and prebiotic evaluation assays. She has also developed a method for screening the methane mitigation capabilities of algae in vitro.

Susan Løvstad Holdt is Associate Professor in the Research Group Bioactives- analysis and application at, The National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Food).

SLH is an expert in research within seaweed composition, bioactives and technologies for extraction and processing. Furthermore, she is involved in research on seaweed as a food, legislation, standardization, and retaining the qualities of seaweed, but also focus on reducing the contaminant found in seaweed. SLH has led or taken part in research projects involving companies such as CP Kelco, Orkla, and she is Secretary General of the International Seaweed Association and chair of the Seaweed Network in Denmark.

SLH’s list of publications incl. FAO reports and book chapter, and with more than 40 peer-reviewed publications counting the highly cited (>1350) review on Bioactive compounds in seaweed: functional food applications and legislation (Holdt and Kraan, 2011).

Dr. Maria Barbosa is a Professor in Bioprocess Engineering and is the Director of AlgaeParc at Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands.  She has been President of the Dutch Biotechnology Association (NBV) and is a member of the European Algae Biomass Association (EABA) steering group. She holds a Ph. D. in Bioprocess Engineering obtained at Wageningen University. She has worked at ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Switzerland, IBET, and at EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation), Germany. 

She presently leads the group on microalgal biotechnology and coordinates several large research programs covering the entire microalgae production chain.

Her scientific interests are in microalgae strain improvement, process design and scale-up. 

(b. 1980, Portugal) – Marine biologist with over 20 years’ experience in macroalgae, combining a solid academic background with an entrepreneurial vision. In the Azores, she explored taxonomy and ecology, and embraced Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA). Since 2004, as part of his PhD, he has been studying algae culture integrated with fish, accumulating vast experience in species, culture systems and biomass. She has worked in Portugal, the USA, Chile and Ireland on sustainable aquaculture practices.

In 2011, Helena co-founded ALGAplus, the first European company to cultivate seaweed in an organically certified IMTA system for various applications, including food and cosmetics. After her departure in 2024, Helena will dedicate herself to strategic consulting for the advancement of the seaweed sector and its value chain.

President of the International Seaweed Association (ISA, 2023-2025); participates in the Strategic Council of the Global Seaweed Coalition.

Helena has supervised more than 25 students, published on algae ecology and cultivation, and is a sought-after speaker, advocating sustainable innovation in the algae sector.

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