Architect (Matosinhos Municipality 01-2025 - to date). Researcher (CITTA 2022-2024); PhD in Spatial Planning (FEUP 2021); Architect (Integrated Master's and Bachelor's Degrees in Architecture, FAUP 2010). Since 08-2022 to 12-2024, she integrated CITTA - Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), as a junior researcher, conducting research on Coastal Adaptive Planning and Management, Adaptive Planning methods, Adaptation Pathways, coastal climate adaptation, coastal risk management, coastal risks (associated with climate change, sea-level rise, and ongoing anthropic pressures on coastal environments, namely the risks of flooding, erosion, submersion, coastal squeeze, loss and degradation of coastal ecosystems), and waterfront transformations in seaport-cities. Between 2016 and 2021, Sofia carried out her PhD at CITTA (FEUP, Porto). Her PhD Thesis, entitled 'Adaptive Planning for coastal climate adaptation in port-cities: integrating Adaptation Pathways into planning instruments', has analyzed cases of application of methodological approaches of Adaptive Planning and Management into real-world planning instruments (in UK and the Netherlands), and then has examined the potential feasibility of introducing such approaches in two study-cases in the Portuguese coast (two recent coastal management plans, focusing on the coastal zones of the two major Portuguese port-cities – Porto and Lisbon) to address coastal climate adaptation / coastal risk management needs. Between January 2011 and April 2016, she has integrated Iperforma Company (an Engineering and Architecture Office in Oporto) as an architect of the Urban Planning Department. During this period, she has developed works in the field of Spatial and Urban Planning, namely Urban Plans, Housing Plans, Municipal Master Plans, Zoning Plans, mostly for Angola and Mozambique. This professional experience has contributed to increase her prior interest in urban planning and housing in developing countries, but also in urban planning in coastal and seaport contexts (as several plans developed at Iperforma were for coastal and seaport areas). She graduated at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP), in 2010, in the Integrated Cycle of Studies - Bachelor's (Licenciatura) and Master's (Mestrado) Degrees. Between 2008 and 2009, she studied abroad, in the Architecture School of Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile), and, within the scope of the courses “Taller Arquitectónico” and “Travesia”, she crossed South America (by land) from Valparaíso to the coastal rural community of Praia Vermelha, at Ilha Grande (Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), where she collaborated in the project and construction of a small theatre scenery for a local school. During this exchange program, Sofia had the opportunity to travel by land, across Chile, Peru, Brazil and Argentina. Her Master Thesis has focused on Valparaíso's port-city transformations since the Spanish colonial period till now, and on the opportunities to revitalize the bay's waterfront and reshape the relationship between city, port and sea. The Thesis goal was to bring up some new perspectives for the city and port planning, and develop ideas and strategies for the seafront reconversion. As an output, the Thesis provided a plan for redesigning and revitalizing the seafront, which reorganized land uses and water uses in a new urban (public) seafront, namely the railway lines (and its different commercial and passenger transport purposes), but also reorganized port activities and uses within a new port perimeter. In the urban seafront and the new port area, there was an underlying concern for providing solutions to safeguard these areas from coastal storms, floods, overtopping and tsunamis. Sofia is a surfer since she was fourteen, which has deeply nurtured her commitment to and passion for the outlined subjects.