Dr. Paola Marziani obtained her Ph.D. in Astrophysics at SISSA in 1991, with a thesis on Accretion Flows in Active Galaxies, under the supervision of Prof. D. W. Sciama. After postdoctoral experiences in the USA, Mexico, and Italy, she joined the research staff of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Astronomical Observatory of Padova, Padova, Italy in December 1995.  Her research interests encompass quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), photoionization and dynamical modeling of gaseous regions producing emission lines in a variety of contexts (from emission line stars to the most powerful quasars), small and large scale structures in the Universe, and observational cosmology.