Cristina Castelo Branco (Lisbon, 1969) is an architect who completed her PhD in Architectural and Urban Culture on July 24, 2020 (unanimously approved with distinction and honours), from the University of Coimbra Department of Architecture. She obtained her postgraduate degree in Urban Design in 1997 from the University of Lisbon, ISCTE, and her degree in Architecture on June 30, 1994, from the University of Porto Faculty of Architecture (FAUP). She undertook her internship at Studio Purini Thermes in Rome (1992/1993) and began her professional practice at the Alcino Soutinho office in Porto in 1994/1995. During her postgraduate studies (1995/1997), she collaborated with the National Council of the Order of Architects (CNOA). She started her independent professional practice in 1998 with Manuel Lema Barros as the managing and founding partner of Lema Barros + Castelo Branco Arquitectos (based in Torres Vedras, Portugal), with several projects awarded or nominated [finalist in the FAD Awards (2006), finalist in the World Architecture Festival (2010), Torres Vedras Municipal Architecture Prize (2005, 2012/13)], and since 2020 as the managing and founding partner of Poetic Space Makers - atelier LBCB architecture (based in Aix-en-Provence, France) In 2006, she assumed the position of Town Planning Councillor at the Câmara Municipal de Torres Vedras, where she launched the ‘Kit for the Defence of Architectural Heritage’ architectural discovery and awareness programme, created the municipal projects' office, and promoted various events and conferences relating to architecture, urbanism, and heritage. In 2012, upon moving to France, she started a collaboration with the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Marseille (ENSA-M), as an assistant to Professor Stephane Hanrot. In 2015, she began her career as a teacher at the Faculté de Arts Lettres et Sciences Humaines de l'Université d'Aix-Marseille (ALLSH – AMU), being responsible for training courses on architecture, culture, and heritage in Portuguese-speaking countries. In 2020, on behalf of the Lusophone Studies department, she launched the intensive course programme ‘Metamorphosis in a Changing World’ with funding from the European network CIVIS (Europe's Civic University Alliance), inviting La Sapienza University, Roma Tre (Italy), and Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium, to take part. She is a visiting researcher at the Project[s] research centre at ENSA-Marseille and the Centre of Architectural Studies from Territory to Design (CEARQ – TD) University of Coimbra, and is a member of the Eduardo Lourenço Chair at the Aix Marseille Université (AMU). She has published one book and two articles in specialized magazines, organized three events, and participated in three events. She has received seven awards and/or honours and participates and/or has participated as a researcher in one project(s). She was awarded a doctoral scholarship by the FCT (SFRH/BD/79061/2011), participated in research project Rise of Portuguese Architecture - (EU)ROPA [funded by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), and by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 030492]]. Her career is built on a balance between project practice, theory/research and the teaching and dissemination of architecture, one nourished by the other towards the constant goal of making and promoting architecture.