Dr Teresa Amaro has more than 20 years of experience in deep-sea ecology research where she learnt to adopt a holistic view in Marine Sciences and to use, at the same time, a multidisciplinary approach to solve scientific problems. Teresa holds a degree in Biology from the University of Porto (1998) and a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University (2005). Her research mainly focuses on understanding trophic ecology in different deep-sea ecosystems, including submarine canyons, abyssal plains and seamounts in contrasting ocean basins (Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean). Teresa has a broad range of skills within the discipline of biology. She has undertaken research on the: structure and functioning of benthic communities in relation to their environment, development of instruments for sampling /observations on processes near the seabed, biogeochemistry, taxonomy and molecular biology. Teresa has also gained experience in using a wide variety of techniques such as: in-situ and laboratory experiments, lipids and phytopigments analysis, fatty acids, stable isotopes, microbiology, histology, interpretation of growth rings in bivalves and modelling. During these years, all her research has been carried out within the international context of European projects. In 2023 she became the principal investigator of the “Building local capacity to protect national marine biodiversity” (BAIT) project, under the Biodiversity Challenge Funds (BCF), where it is proposed to enhance capacity and capability to observe and monitor marine ecosystems in the Cabo Verde archipelago. Through focused training initiatives built around a practical observation programme, BAIT delivers important information for policy to promote environmentally sustainable economic growth and subsequently help to alleviate poverty. In 2022 she also started leading the “Conservation of marine ecosystems around Santo Antão, Cabo Verde: implications for policy and society” (COAST) project funded through the 2020-2021 Biodiversa and Water JPI joint call for research projects, under the BiodivRestore ERA-NET Cofund. In line with the deep sea, among many other projects, in 2017 she became the WP3 co-leader at the Mining Impact II project (https://www.jpi-oceans.eu/en/miningimpact), in 2015 she was invited to write a monograph about submarine canyon dynamics by the CIESM Committee in Marine Geosciences and in 2013 she was awarded the Marie Curie fellowship. In a national level, TA was awarded 1 postdoc for 6 years and recently she was awarded a contract for 6 years, as an assistant researcher at CESAM. Teresa has acquired extensive experience in seagoing (> 50 cruises) and sampling the seafloor since 1998, using many different techniques such as ROVs, landers, sediment traps, corers, trawlers, technical diving and performing in situ experiments. During these sea expeditions, she has learned how to plan and manage scientific cruises, being in 2014, the lead scientist for sampling activities on board of the man-submersible SHINKAI6500. She has a quite large number of peer-reviewed papers, which have required considerable diplomatic skills, to combine the varying opinions and interpretations. In 2022 she has been invited to be part of a BioDivrestore knowledge hub on nature based solutions. In April 2020 she became an associate editor of Deep-Sea research journal. Moreover, in November 2019 she was nominated by the Deep-Sea Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) to attendance the Workshop on the Regional Environmental Management Plan for the Area of the Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) in Evora, Portugal.