Mónica Silva graduated in Biologia - Recursos Faunísticos e Ambiente by the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon in 1996, and obtained her PhD degree in Zoology at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA in 2004 under the supervision of Prof. Scott Edwards. During this period, a 4-year doctoral fellowship and six awards for outstanding research were received. Back in Portugal, she earned two post-doctoral fellowships in competitive calls by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) to carry out research at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, University of Lisbon with Prof. Manuela Coelho. Since 2019, she is a Researcher at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL). Expertise in Evolutionary Biology, with solid research experience in the areas of Population Genetics, Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genetics. Co-author of 31 papers in peer-reviewed journals, eleven of which were published in the last 5 years, including several in top ranking journals of their respective areas, such as Nature Communications, Current Biology, Molecular Ecology, Science of the Total Environment, with an h-factor of 17 (Google Scholar, November 11th, 2024), h factor = 14 (Scopus, November 11th, 2024). Solid scientific independence (first or last author in more than half of her publications, publishing without PhD supervisor co-authorship since 2009) with an extensive network of national and international collaborators, including Ispa-Instituto Universitário (Portugal), University of Barcelona (Spain), Queens University (Canada), University of Maryland (USA). Vast teaching experience in different areas of biology and genetics, and since 2021 responsible for teaching Ex-situ Conservation Genetics of the Curricular Unit Métodos Integrados em Biologia da Conservação (Master Program in Conservation Biology) and regular participation in other Curricular Units at FCUL. Funded as Principal Investigator (PI) in 4 research projects in competitive IC&DT project calls from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, and participation as a team member in 6 other projects financed by national and internationally funding agencies, such as the MAVA foundation and The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, to a total of over 3.1M euros. In the last 5 years, earned two projects as PI (which add to over 250k euros), one of which in a competitive FCT call to study mechanisms of allochrony in endemic Portuguese seabird species. Furthermore, during this period she participated in four other projects as a team member, one of which (Project Biodiversa+) is currently ongoing. This latter project has offered an excellent opportunity to enhance networking among participating European partners. Supervision of several researchers and students at the beginning of their careers. Active participation in projects and activities of high social relevance in the last five years, including conservation projects on highly threatened species, and coordination of outreach activities, such as a major exhibit on seabird species diversity, biology and conservation at the Natural History Museum in Lisbon in 2022. This exhibit was moved to FCUL in 2024 to target college students and faculty from other scientific backgrounds. Frequent participation in the European Night of Researchers, and regular activities with school children promoting environmental awareness.