Currently is doing a PhD in urban agriculture at the Architecture Department of  ISCTE. Publications on the field  range from th award winner at RESER 2018: "An Ecoservices retrofeed back to green economy" to Combining top-down and bottom-up gardens in Lisbon as an improved planning strategy in proceedings,Growing in cities, Cost conference on Urban allotment Gardens. Also published witht he suport of Fundaçáo Ciência e Tecnologia "Uma horta para aprender Ciência" (Learning Sience through Gardening).

Maria Raquel Sousa has been working in urban agriculture for 15 years as a planner, landscape architect, agronomist, trainer and as a teacher  at Universidade Lusófona – ISMAT, Portugal where it though Natural Environment, Sustainable Agriculture and Investigation Methodologies.  With a B.A. in Agriculture engeneer went to leave 7 years to California while doing her Master in Creation of Habitat at California State University at Hayward. After coming back to Portugal start the design of urban productive landscapes, such as the Braço de Prata project done in an old abandoned gunpower factory where a cultural project was created including a urban gardening and artistic project, the Social gardens of Salinas do Samouco Fundation created as one of the mitigation measures to lower the environmental impact of the new Lisbon bridge, the City hall Social urban gardening project at Lagos, etc. Funded and managed Biosite, a cooperative that has work in urban agriculture, agroecotourism and rural development in training, planning/executing projects, among which a private rental land urban gardening project and many public projects that include also environmental education, art, traditional professions. It also does organic vegetable production distributed directly in organic baskets to people. It has experience in combining practice and theoretical aspects, doing workshops in national and international context, for gardeners, students, adults and children, as well in starting projects with people, which is what loves more to do.