Maria S. Viana studied Applied Chemistry Bachelor at NOVA School of Science and Technology (2015-2019). In 2016, she obtained a scholarship grant from SPQ (Portuguese Chemical Society) which awarded the top 10 students enrolled in Chemistry courses. In her third year as an undergraduate student, she did an internship dedicated to the synthesis of natural products in the Organic Synthesis Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Manuela Pereira. Later, she performed the final project of her bachelor's in the same laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Luísa Ferreira. It was dedicated to the synthesis of a new family of anthracene derivatives of biological interest, using N-heterocyclic carbene derivatives as organocatalysts. Continuing this work, in May 2019 she started another internship, aimed to test the enzymatic activity of these compounds in the Molecular Biophysics Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Alice Pereira. In 2019, she started the Bioorganic Chemistry MSc at the same university. During her Master's studies, she became interested in coordination chemistry and the possibility of using metals as catalysts for the synthesis of organic molecules. Thus, she joined the group of Organometallic and Coordination Chemistry Laboratory at FCT NOVA to perform her master thesis under the supervision of Dr. Vitor Rosa with co-supervision of Dr. Clara S. B. Gomes, an expert in X-ray diffraction studies. In this work she prepared new copper(I) catalysts for azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) using different ligands (NHC, phosphine) and counter-ions. In 2020, she was granted a 3 months FCT fellowship from the program "Verão com Ciência 2020", which was dedicated to the preparation of a variety of ligands in line with her master thesis work. In October 2021, she concluded her thesis with a distinct understanding of synthetic chemistry and a newfound interest, transition metals and catalysis. In November 2021 she applied for an FCT fellowship (BI) and since January 2022 she is working under the supervision of Dr. Beatriz Royo in the Group of Organometallic Catalysis at ITQB NOVA. In July she won a studentship by FCT, which she started in 2023 in the PhD program and thesis work at the same lab in ITQB. Her work plan is dedicated to the synthesis of Mn, Ni and Fe complexes containing NHC ligands and their application in the catalytic conversion of CO2 into value-added products, and the learning of different techniques under co-supervision of Dr. Clara S. B. Gomes. Since her first years at University, she has been involved in several organizations, such as NQA-Applied Chemistry Club as a founding member and ANEQ-Portuguese Chemistry Students Association as part of the elected head members from 2018 to 2021. As a member of these associations, she participated and organized numerous events. She was also involved in the activities of NOVA.ID.FCT-Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT, contributing with some office work. Since joining ITQB, she has volunteered and helped organize some outreach activities such as the Open Day. Additionally, she had the opportunity to participate in Conferences, whether just attending the conference (13th IBCC), or in other cases presenting her work as poster communications at four international conferences (IC3TC2021, Silqcom08, CEHC-2, XXII ISHC) and three national meetings (DCCSP2021, XXVII ENSPQ, Second National Crystallographic Meeting). In the two latter events she won best poster award. She also presented her work as oral communicactions in national scientific events (Jortec de Química 2022, JIM2021, Simpósio de Encerramento das Escolas de Verão LAQV e UCIBIO). Furthermore, in february 2023 she published her first paper as first author, titled "Heteroleptic Copper Complexes as Catalysts for the CuAAC Reaction: Counter-Ion Influence in Catalyst Efficiency".