Cristina Mesquita is an Associated Professor at the School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança and has been the coordinator of the Research Center Basic Education since 2018. She holds a PhD in Child Studies from the University of Minho, Portugal, where she defended the thesis titled "The Child's Voice on Pedagogical Innovation." She also holds a master's degree in Educational Sciences in the area of Teacher Training from the University of Lisbon, where she defended the thesis "Learning to be a preschool educator: theories and practices." She served as Vice-President of the Pedagogical Council of the School of Education of Bragança, Director of the Course, and President of the Scientific Committee of the Master in Preschool Education and Teaching of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education. Currently, she is a member of the Technical-Scientific Council of the School of Education and the Technical-Scientific Council of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança. She is the Vice-President of the Association of Early Childhood Education Professionals. She has been and is also involved as a local coordinator in various international projects related to the training of early childhood educators: PEREQT - Quality Training and Education for All Project (43369771); EyDigifolio - Early Years Digital Portfolio; CARE Project - Enhancing Early Childhood Education and Care in Palestine; GAINKIDS Project - Global Citizenship for Kids; TELESPA Project - Teaching Learning Spaces Competence in Early Childhood Education; PARTICIPA Project – Professional Development Tools Supporting Participation Rights in Early Childhood Education; and QUALIMENTARY Project – Implementation of quality development processes in early education and care institutions. She also coordinated three National Pilot Projects "Prevenir Melhorar" related to educational success, inclusion, and differentiation of children. These projects utilized on-site training to support praxiological transformation in the school clusters of S. Sancho III, Vinhais; School Clusters of Macedo de Cavaleiros; and Miguel Torga School Clusters, Bragança, integrated into the Integrated and Innovative Plan to Combat School Failure of the CIM-TTM. Additionally, she participated as a researcher in the Study on Teachers’ Beliefs, Knowledge, and Practices (NORTE-08-5266-FSE-000118). She was also jointly responsible for a bilateral project between IPB, Portugal, and UTFPR, Brazil, A3ES - Active Learning Environments in Higher Education, to enable learning environments in higher education. She authored several national and international publications, focusing on rights-based pedagogy, ethics in early childhood education, the quality of educational environments, and praxeology and teacher training. She supervised a doctoral student at the Federal University of Ponta Grossa and currently supervises three at the University of Salamanca, University Vigo and University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. She has supervised over 30 final reports and master's dissertations. She has been invited as a speaker to various conferences, including the International Scientific Conference "12th Days of Primary Schools - A Circle from Science to the Classroom" organized by the University of Split, Croatia; the XXIV National Meeting of Mathematics Teachers in the Early Years, promoted by the Association of Mathematics Teachers; the APEI Conference Cycle "Perspectives and Pedagogical Practices in Preschool Education"; the International Conference on Early Childhood Education and Care, in Turkey; the International Conference on Innovation, Documentation, and Education; and the 7th International Early Childhood Education Congress. She is a member of the Editor Scientific Committee of the journal "Humanities & Social Sciences Communications" by Springer Nature and the "Revista Latino Americana de Educación Infantil – Reladei." She was also a member of the Scientific and Organizing Committee at the EECERA 31st Conference.