Ticiana Ponte is enrolled in the Doctorate in Public Policy at the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences at the University of Aveiro (DCSPT, UA) in Portugal, where she is a member of the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP). She holds a master’s degree in architecture, with a specialization in urbanism, and a bachelor’s degree in architecture and urbanism from the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil. Currently, she holds a Doctoral Scholarship granted by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/2025.04677.BD) and is a mentee in the International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS) Mentorship Program. Ponte´s research focuses on identifying and exploring the roles of various actors in urban governance of decision-making processes of policies, plans, and programs, particularly examining how the dynamics of agency features may drive urban sustainability transformations. This is particularly important in addressing the complex, interconnected challenges contemporary societies face, which manifest across different levels and domains and exhibit configurations of complex adaptive systems. From July 2021 to March 2025, Ponte held a Research Fellowship within the scope of the R&D Project ENVISION - Accelerating Environmental Assessment towards Sustainable Cities and Regions (PTDC/GES-URB/0804/2020; doi.org/10.54499/PTDC/GES-URB/0804/2020) funded by FCT. During her undergraduate studies, Ponte received a scientific initiation scholarship grant from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) to research the impact of climate dynamics on the Northeast region of Brazil. Ponte was awarded 1st place in the Engineering Area for her research presentation at the IX Scientific Meeting of Research Initiation by the Federal University of Ceará, and 6th place in the FCT 2021 Call for PhD Fellowship in her area. Ponte has recently published two articles as first author in high-impact peer-reviewed journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science (https://doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2025.2483242 and https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2025.2552373 ), marking a significant milestone in her research. She co-authored two articles in Brazilian national journals. In addition, she is the first author of eight conference abstracts, including six at international conferences at renowned universities such as Georgetown University in D.C., USA. She presented two full papers: one at ICoWEFS 2021 (International Conference on Water, Energy, Food, and Sustainability) in Portugal, published by Springer (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75315-3_60), and the other at Columbia University, NY, USA. Furthermore, she produced two policy briefs (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15195508 ) to assist policymakers and stakeholders involved in urban decision-making processes aimed at transforming urban systems toward sustainability, with a focus on the Portuguese context. Ponte served as the executive sub-coordinator at the Municipal Secretariat of Urbanism and Environment in Fortaleza, Brazil. She contributed to sustainable urban development and public policy, collaborating with international organizations such as UN-Habitat, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability. Her work involved the Fortaleza Master Plan, Walkability Plan, Low-Carbon Development Strategies, and Integrated Waterfront Management Project, earning her a distinction award for outstanding public service.