Rute Martins holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon, with specialisation in social-ecological systems in rural areas. She is currently science manager and researcher at CiTUA (Center for innovation in Territory, Urbanism and Architecture) a multidisciplinary R&D Unit. She has been actively participating in ongoing applied projects of sustainability assessment, territorial planning, and resilient communities, and risk reduction. She has advanced knowledge on award setup including finding funding, budget creation, filling out proposal forms and submitting the proposal. She collaborated as a teaching assistant from 2011 to 2015.