Curriculum Vitae
PERSONAL DATA
Catarina V. Esteves
PROFESSIONAL STATUS
Assistant Researcher
ACADEMIC AND SCIENTIFIC DEGREES
PhD in Inorganic Chemistry, completed at the NOVA University of Lisbon, at the Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology, ITQB NOVA, in 2018.
Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Chemical and Biological Engineering, completed at the Lisbon Higher Institute of Engineering, ISEL, in 2011 and 2008.
RELEVANT PUBLIC FUNCTIONS AND POSITIONS
Invited Assistant Professor at the Higher School of Technology of Barreiro, of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal (ESTB IPS), 2022 to 2026.
Junior Researcher at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, of the NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA FCT), 2023 to 2025.
Invited Assistant Researcher at the Faculty of Sciences, of the University of Lisbon (FCUL) within the scope of the iPaints project, 2023.
MAIN AREAS OF RESEARCH/INTEREST
Chemical Engineering
Inorganic Chemistry
Supramolecular Chemistry
Green Chemistry
Materials Engineering
Sustainable Materials
ACTIVITY DEVELOPED
Research, Development, and Innovation
Coordination and participation in scientific projects
Supervision of interns, scholarship recipients, and master's students
Preparation of scientific publications and science outreach materials for the general public
Coordination and participation in scientific and technological dissemination initiatives
Oral and poster presentations at scientific congresses
Valuation and transfer of scientific and technical knowledge
Participation in academic examination boards
Review of articles submitted to scientific publications
Participation in professional development activities
Management of scientific activity
Preparation of applications for research projects and programs
Participation in selection boards
Biography
I obtained my BSc in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (ISEL IPL). During that time I visited Université d'Artois, France, for the Erasmus European University Dedicated to Biomolecules and Biopolymers, and started doing research, which resulted in my 1st conference poster. After that, I received my MSc (with honors and got the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Award to the best MSc graduate from Chemical and Biological Engineering) in collaboration with Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), under the project PTDC/QUI/67175/2006 - Development of new macrocyclicbifunctional chelators for metalloradiopharmaceuticals. During those years, 6 papers were published on ACS, RSC, Elsevier and Chemistry Europe (3 as 1st author: 2 Inorg Chem, IF 5.436, Q1; 1 Dalton Trans, IF 4.569, Q1; 1 Tetrahedron, IF 2.457, Q1; 2 Eur J Inorg Chem IF 2.551, Q1). I also went to Mikkeli University, Finland, to work on the NEPTUNE Project - Network for Environmental Projects in Technology, UNited in Europe.
Later, I was awarded a FCT PhD Fellowship SFRH/BD/89501/2012. My PhD contributed to project PTDC/QEQ-SUP/2718/2012 - Development of dinuclear Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes as potential inhibitors of oncogenic protein-protein interactions. In 2014, I received the Matteo Bertero Memorial Award to the Best Poster Presentation at ISMEC, held on the Università degli Studi di Pavia, Italy. Afterwards, I was an Invited PhD Fellow at Université de Brest, France, and in 2018 I received my PhD in Chemistry (specialty Inorganic Chemistry, with Coordination and Supramolecular Chemistry as core fields, supervised by R. Delgado). My PhD related work resulted in 6 papers, published on ACS and RSC (4 as 1st author: 4 Inorg Chem, IF 5.436, Q1; 1 Dalton Trans, IF 4.569, Q1; 1 New J Chem IF 3.591, Q1). In 2018, I was awarded the MT Brandão | Metrohm Young Chemist Award.
In late 2018 I started as an Assistant Researcher at FCiências.ID, working on the Mol2Cryst project - PTDC/QUIOUT/28401/2017, LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-028401 and I have collaborated with Centro de Química Estrutural (CQE), co-supervised 2 BSc and 1 MSc students from FCUL, and 1 IAESTE MSc trainee from U. of Glasgow. I was invited to argue a BSc project and to give lectures on Anion Binding.
Overall, I published 1 BSc project, 2 theses (MSc & PhD), 16 papers (8 as 1st author), 2 newsletters, 1 dissemination article on the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019), enrolled in the curation of an online exposition "Crystals and their skeletons", participated in national and international conferences with 30 Posters (2 Award) and 20 Oral (4 Invited) presentations, organized 1 conference, and enrolled in several other outreach activities (as Science Open Days, the European Researchers' Night, events from InTeraQB, creating videos for YouTube based on scientific work, and by being invited for a Café Virtual by the ACS Tecnológico de Costa Rica Student Chapter - Outstanding 2019/2020 Award from ACS). In 2020 I successfully applied to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings scientific exchange network, through Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and to ACS and RSC membership. I am also a member of Ordem dos Engenheiros, SPQ and of the editorial board of MDPI journal Crystals, ad hoc reviewing for several journals. I have published, in 2022, my first manuscript as correspondent author in RSC (New J Chem IF 3.591, Q1).
In early 2023, I joined as an Invited Assistant Researcher, the IPaintS Project, and later worked on the PRR Project InsectERA, at NOVA FCT. From 2022 to 26 I was an Invited Assistant Professor at Escola Superior de Tecnologia do Barreiro, Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal (ESTB IPS). In 2024, I obtained a RSC Sustainable Laboratories Grant.
In 2026 I joined Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), as an Assistant Researcher at the Materials Department, Cementitious Materials Unit, Chemical Testing Area.