M.J. Sampaio received her Ph.D. European Doctor diploma in Chemical and Biological Engineering by the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, and the Doctor diploma on Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) by the International AOPs PhD School (IPS-AOP) in 2016. Part of her thesis was conducted in the Engineering Research Center, University of Cincinnati – USA and in the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination, University of Toulouse – France.

Currently, she is Auxiliary Researcher at LSRE-LCM, a partnership between LSRE (Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering) and LCM (Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials), that now integrates the Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering (ALiCE). Her research expertise include: i) the development and characterization of heterogeneous (photo)catalysts based on carbon materials; ii) the removal of emerging pollutants from water/wastewater; iii) production of energy carriers (H₂O₂ and H₂) by photo-assisted technologies; and iv) the design of photo(catalytic) devices.

She has participated as team member in 7 research projects and was the Principal Investigator of 1 project by FCT (MicroPhotOGen, Ref. PTDC/NAN-MAT/30674/2017, with total funding of €236,359.17, which aimed at developing photo devices for oxygen evolution in collaboration with the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL). She co-authored more than 100 publications, including 44 papers in JCR indexed journals (h-index of 23, Scopus), more than 70 abstracts in national and international conference proceedings, a book chapter and co-edited a book of proceedings. She is in the Early Career Editorial Board Members of Catalysis Communication and Applied Catalysis B: Environmental Journals (Elsevier), and Guest Editor of various Special Issues in Catalysts (MDPI) and Catalysis Communications (Elsevier).

She is regularly involved in the supervision of National and International students (7 PhD and 8 MSc, pedagogical activities, including tutorial assistant in Chemical Engineering Master Units (Materials Science Engineering, Chemistry, and Project in Chemical Engineering). She has been an active member of SPQ since 2010, participating in the organization of several scientific conferences (3 national and 6 international) and events for the dissemination of science to society. In 2020, she was awarded by UP, in the framework of the Pedagogical Innovation Projects of the Pedagogical Excellence Program, a project dealing with Active Learning in Flipped Classroom.