Ana Maria de Almeida has a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, with a specialization in Computer Science. Her research interests include Algorithmics, Complexity, Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition, and Evolutionary Computation. She is particularly interested in evolutionary strategies for multi-criteria problems, as well as the construction of self-adjusting predictive models for real applications. She has chaired or co-chaired important international conferences in Complexity Sciences and Computer Science, participated in fundamental and in applied research projects and in research & innovation projects between academia and industry, both at national as well as international levels.