Biography

Flora Cristina Meireles Silva is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Civil Construction and Planning, School of Technology and Management (ESTiG), Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB, Portugal) and collaborator member in the GeoBioSciences, GeoTechnologies, and GeoEngineering (GeoBioTec) research center, University of Beira Interior (UBI, Portugal). She has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (UBI, 2015), focusing on the reuse of treated wastewater, an MSc in Civil Engineering (Geotechnics and Environment, UBI, 2011), and a BSc in Civil Engineering (5 years) (Planning and Urbanism, UBI, 2003). She has been a senior member of the Portuguese Engineers Association (Ordem dos Engenheiros) since 2017. She is the coordinator of the Civil Construction and Planning Department at ESTiG-IPB (July 2023 - present), vice-president of the IPB Ethics Committee (May 2023 - present), and member of the Bachelor's Committee in Civil Engineering at ESTiG-IPB (November 2019 - present). She is part of the team of teachers/researchers (CIMO/SusTEC/ESA-IPB; CIIMAR-UP) that won the first prize in the Environmental Category of the HidroDinâmic@s Ideas Contest (March 2022), with the project "Exploring the functioning and functions of green roofs in water management: a prototype for experimental and interactive activities", organized by Ciência Viva - National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Águas do Tejo Atlântico. She is the coordinator of the IPB Innovation Project - Promoting water efficiency in buildings: Installation and performance evaluation of a rainwater harvesting system and efficient devices "HydroSAAP" (May 2023 - present), financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RPP: Youth Impulse STEAM Program). She is also part of a team of teachers (ESTiG-IPB, 2018-present) researching pedagogical practices in higher education. In recent years, she has been supervising several civil engineering degree projects and master's theses in the field of water efficiency in buildings. She has papers published in international and national journals and international and national conference proceedings. Her main scientific interests are: Water reuse; Water efficiency in buildings; Water-energy nexus in buildings; Rainwater harvesting systems; Influence of Nature-based Solutions on water management; Valorization of agro-industrial wastes, and Pedagogical practices in higher education.