Joana Dias holds a master's in Environmental Engineering (IST, University of Lisbon) and a PhD in Engineering and Management (IST, University of Lisbon), with specialization in social innovation and transformative capacity of communities towards a sustainable and resilient outcome, exploring also how these influence and are influenced by their territorial challenges and conflicts. She has collaborated as a teaching assistant and has been involved in several research projects in the field of social innovation and transitions for sustainability. Currently, she is an integrated member of the Center for Innovation in Territory, Urbanism, and Architecture (CiTUA) at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, where she has been developing research on community engagement through socially innovative laboratories to reduce forest risk in the southern Portugal.