Alcina M. M. Bernardo currently holds an appointment as Coordinator of the M.Sc. course in Food Engineering of the College of Biotechnology (since 2006). At present she is Associate Professor at the ESB-UCP, since 2017. She got her B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 1985; her M.Sc., in 1986, and her Ph.D., in 1990, in Food Processing from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Industries Agricoles et Alimentaires of Massy - France. In 1985, she was hired by the College of Biotechnology of the Portuguese Catholic University (ESB-UCP), where she became Assistant Professor in 1990. In 1991, she attended a Postharvest Technology course at University of California in Davis - California, EUA, and she pursued a postdoctoral programme at University of Florida in Gainesville - Florida, USA. She has served as National Delegate for EC COST 915 Action, as member of the respective Managing Committee, from 1996 to 2000, and as National Coordinator for EU CYTED XI.3 Action, from 1995 to 1998. From 1999 to 2001, she held an appointment as Associate Sub-Director of the Extension of the College of Biotechnology in Caldas da Raínha (EESBCR - UCP). She is responsible for and professor of Fruits & Vegetables to the european M.Sc. in Food Science, Technology and Business (BiFTec); Food Technologies, Introduction to Engineering, Algebra, Mathematical Analysis and Mathematics (1st cycle at ESB). She is also in charge of the Food Eng. M.Sc. Students' Placement in Practical Training. She is co-author of more than 80 papers in refereed international journal and chapters in books, which have received to date more than 2000 citations listed by the ISI® web of knowledge and Elsevier SCOPUS®, with a h-index of 24. She is also co-author of more than 30 non-peered international journal and papers in national journals and technical publications. She coordinated and has contributed to externally funded R&D projects. Furthermore, she has supervised several externally funded research fellowships, including successfully concluded PhD and MSc theses. She delivered invited lectures and volunteered presentations in professional meetings worldwide, has served in the organization or scientific committees of national and international symposia, and has acted as invited reviewer for numerous refereed international journals. She received a complimentary year's membership from the Society of Chemical Industry for serving as reviewer for the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. She carries out research in the area of Food Science, Engineering and Technology, focused mainly on Fruit and Vegetables. Her research work is on Post-Harvest Technology and Dehydration of Food Products. The first topic includes the application and optimization of technologies for the preservation of fresh or fresh-cut fruit and vegetables — chemical treatments, edible coatings, vacuum or modified atmosphere packaging (including packaging design), controlled atmosphere storage — for the extension of the shelf life and preservation of the quality, according to physical, chemical and biochemical, microbiological and sensorial parameters; this includes exploring the potential of bioactive compounds produced by microalgae, such as exopolisaccharides to produce edible coatings. The second topic contemplates the modeling and optimization of dehydration processes — osmotic dehydration, microwave drying, hot air drying, freeze drying — of mainly fruit and vegetable crops, but not only, in order to increase the efficiency of the process and the preservation of product quality, according to parameters defined above, as well as water activity. Her research work was spotlighted in 2015 by Elsevier: "Spotlighting the research of 10 women scientists for #InternationalWomensDay" (Special issue features articles by researchers in Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, the UK and Malaysia; https://www.elsevier.com/connect/spotlighting-the-research-of-10-women-s).