Rita Lopes holds a Ph.D. in Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies, a joint program at NOVA University of Lisbon and the University of Lisbon (2017), and a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering from NOVA University of Lisbon (2008). She is a researcher at CENSE, the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research at NOVA University of Lisbon, and an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at NOVA FCT. Her primary research areas encompass socio-ecological systems, valuation of ecosystem services, circular economy, low-carbon economies, the well-being economy, green public procurement, and climate change adaptation in urban settings. In this context, she has developed and applied various collaborative tools and approaches, with a focus on participatory modeling. She has extensive national and international experience in designing and conducting collaborative processes that engage different stakeholder groups, including national, global, and local authorities, businesses, civil society, and research institutions, in the co-production of knowledge and sharing of experiences, primarily in the following research areas. Rita is the author of several peer-reviewed articles in high-impact factor journals. She serves as the vice president of the European Society of Ecological Economics (ESEE).