Isabel Fernandes graduated in Chemical Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) in 2003, and obtained her Master degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering also at Polytechnic Institute of Bragança in 2008. In 2017 she completed her PhD degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering - University of Porto, under the theme New Footwear Materials Based on Polyurethanes and Polyureas. Since 2004, she has been working as researcher in several I&D projects, involving the LSRE-LCM, the Portuguese Footwear Technological Center (CTCP) and companies of the footwear industrial sector. Her main research interests are the development and characterization of polyurethane materials, namely biodegradable thermoplastic and microcellular polyurethanes; synthesis and characterization of water-based poly(urethane-urea) adhesives and coatings; biodegradable polyurethanes and biodegradability evaluation; microencapsulation of natural and bio-based compounds for several applications (cosmetics, textile, food and leather coatings) and antimicrobial activity evaluation.