Dr. Melissa Prelac is currently employed at the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism in Poreč, Croatia. Prior to this, she worked as a professional advisor at the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development and at the Ministry of Agriculture (2018–2021). In 2017, she worked as an external associate on the project "Adaptability assessment of maze and soybean cultivars of Croatia in the function of breeding for drought tolerance – AGRO-DROUGHT-ADAPT", conducted at the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism in Poreč. She earned her MSc degree in Agroecology from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, in 2015. During her graduate studies, she spent one semester at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) through the Erasmus+ programme. She has completed her doctoral study at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, in the field of food technology. She is employed as a research assistant on the project "Biochar as a tool for environment-friendly and sustainable grapevine nutrient management in the context of climate change’’ (BIONUTRIVINE UIP-2019-04-7370), funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. Her research focuses on the adsorption of polyphenols onto biochar produced from grapevine residues and the optimization of green extraction processes using agri-food waste.