Ana L. Fernando is an Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department of Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. She is a researcher at MEtRiCS, Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center, hosted by Universidade do Minho and Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Ana L. Fernando has been working with energy crops for more than 25 years, with a special interest in studies related to the sustainability of energy crop production (use of marginal land, efficient use of water and mineral resources, environmental impact assessment studies to detect options for systems improvement) as also the production of materials from biomass. Parallel to those activities, she has also been working in the field of food technology and safety by testing natural compounds extracted from plants into biopolymers for food packaging or as additives for food preservation.