Sofia Costa (PostGrad Organic Agriculture 2014, PhD Biological Sciences 2007, MSc Ecology 2002, Degree Biology 1998) is a nematode ecologist active in two main research lines: i) the use of nematode communities as bioindicators of soil-based ecosystem services; and ii) the ecology and control of crop-damaging plant-parasitic nematodes in agroecosystems. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Minho and deputy director of the Centre for Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA). Sofia participated in 5 EU-funded and 10 national projects, acting as coordinator (PI/Co-PI) in 6; these mainly concerned sustainable practices and management of agroecosystems, focusing on agroecology and nematode control, and also include projects on soil biodiversity and function as subjected to anthropogenic and climate change. She published 35 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, including a paper in Nature that was highly influential in shaping soil ecology research. This resulted from close international collaboration, and projected the global distribution of nematode functional groups, elucidated the contributions of this faunal group to climate change. Her most impactful research relates to nematode community analysis in soil ecology and to agroecosystem sustainability, aiming to exploit beneficial interactions among biodiversity components through adequate management, learning from model systems and drawing parallels between natural and agricultural systems. She co-authored 4 book chapters, including two in fundamental Nematode Ecology books by CABI, and has numerous other communications and presentations in scientific conferences. Sofia currently supervises 4 PhD students, 3 with grants from FCT; since 2012 she has supervised 2 PhD and 18 MSc theses to completion. These proposed sustainable methods to reduce the pressure of the most economically relevant soilborne parasites in agriculture, and/or covered topics of natural and agroecosystem resilience and natural regulation drivers, and promotion of sustainability by a combined above-belowground perspective. Sofia leads the Nematology group at CBMA, the only laboratory analysing nematode communities as bioindicators of soil health in Portugal, and is a Lab Partner in SoilBON, performing nematode community analysis for worldwide soil sampling campaigns. She is an internationally-recognised researcher in her field, giving invited talks and participating in the organization/scientific committee of conferences, and is a member of the editorial board Nematology (Brill), and section editor in Plant and Soil (Springer Nature). In 2024, she joined the working group ‘Emergency Authorization Protocols’ – Panel of Plant Health, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Because soil ecology, particularly nematode ecology, and agroecosystem sustainability are topics seldom covered by the media, she regularly contributes to knowledge transfer and science dissemination events, including the participation in public dissemination of science projects , radio interviews, technical publications, several talks, and other public engagement activities. She contributed to the hands-on exhibition 'the importance of being nematode', the best dissemination activity in the European Researchers' Night in Braga, 2021. She was co-founder and scientific coordinator of Fitolab, a phytosanitary services laboratory hosted by the Instituto Pedro Nunes, Coimbra (2012/13) and engages in knowledge transfer activities to help mitigate the effects of nematodes on crops.