Isabel Barbosa completed her master degree in Chemical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP) in July 2018. In 2019, she started her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering – Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials (LSRE-LCM), FEUP. Her thesis, titled "Photocatalytic Technologies for Sustainable Ammonia Production: Reactor Design and Prototyping" was concluded in October 2024.

Her research focused on the design and prototyping of innovative reactors, addressing fundamental principles, key challenges, and scalling opportunities. This work contributed to advancing sustainable photocatalytic technologies for ammonia production, supporting the transition toward a greener, more resource-efficient chemical industry. During her PhD, Isabel was a visiting researcher at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, where she collaborated with the Department of Thermodynamic Engineering. There, she developed molecular models for metal-free photocatalysts tailored to sustainable ammonia synthesis. Therefore, her work focused on key areas including Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), photocatalysis, and molecular modeling, reflecting an interdisciplinary approach to advancing sustainable chemical processes.

Currently, Isabel is a postdoctoral researcher at LSRE-LCM, where she is dedicated to the integrated modeling to design efficient mesostructured photoreactors for ammonia production.