My academic and scientific journey began in 2019 when I enrolled in the Biology degree programme at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP). During this time, I engaged in a variety of extracurricular activities, namely through youth associations, being actively involved in the Biology Students’ Group of the University of Porto (NEBUP) and the Student Association of the Faculty of Sciences (AEFCUP). My first research experience took place during my curricular internship at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (I3S), where I tested fast docking methods for protein-protein interaction involving the ATXN1 protein. I completed this internship with a final grade of 18 out of 20. In 2022, I began a Master’s in Marine Sciences - Marine Resources at the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto (ICBAS - UP), which allowed me to deepen my engagement with marine biology. In 2023, I completed a curricular internship at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), where I worked on mutational validation of Ghrl and Atp1a4. This marked the beginning of my involvement in several projects related to cetacean genomics, evolution and conservation. That same year, I also began participating in science communication activities. I presented my internship project at the U.Porto Young Research Meeting (IJUP) with an oral presentation. Later, I presented a poster entitled “The hunger hormone in Cetacea: a remarkable story of duplication and loss” at the Blue Think Conference (BTC), winning the prize for Best Poster Presentation. In 2023, I also joined the CETUS project team, and have since participated in multiple expeditions and monitoring campaigns focused on cetacean populations in Macaronesia. In the 2023/2024 academic year, I conducted my master’s thesis, which involved a comparative genomics assessment of the Pnpla1 gene in the Physeteridae and Kogiidae families. This project earned a final grade of 19 out of 20 and resulted in two posters (one of which was presented at the European Cetacean Conference), two oral presentations, and a Best Oral Presentation award at BTC. Thanks to my involvement in various areas, I have contributed to additional outputs in cetacean ecology, genomics, and evolution - including two posters, one oral presentation (as co-author), and a submitted article. Recently I completed an extracurricular course focused on writing and publishing scientific review articles. I am currently undertaking an internship under the “Estágios+Talento” programme, where I am gaining molecular techniques namely cell culture and transformation of competent cells within the “Marma Detox” project. In addition, I continue to collaborate on ongoing projects such as: EMPHATIC (Biodiversa+); CETUS (collecting cetacean occurrence data in the NE Atlantic; non-funded); GAMA (explore cetacean communities in offshore seamounts; CIIMAR SEED); Gene Loss DB: A curated gene loss database for vertebrate species; CIIMAR Watch - CIIMAR monitoring programme.