Maria Célia Portella is Associate Professor of Sao Paulo State University (UNESP) and Associated Professor of the Aquaculture Center of UNESP since 2004. She has been involved with the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) and the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter of WAS (LACC) as a member of the Boards of Directors and as President of both societies. Her primary duties are research and education, but extension activities also comprise a relevant part of her routine. From 2006 to 2011, she was Host Country Principal Investigator in projects of the AquaFish Collaborative Research Support Program (USAID/USA), and from 2013-2018 she responded as Co-Coordinator of LAC Regional Center of Excellence (AquaFish Innovation Lab/USAID). She participated as a member (2014-2016) and coordinator (2016-2017) of the Advisory Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil). Currently, she is a member of the Committee of Experts for the development of the “FAO Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture” and the “FAO Guidance for Transforming Aquaculture to Achieve the SDGs”. She was also a partner of the CITYFOOD consortium financed by the Belmont Forum, UE, and acted as the principal Brazilian investigator in this context. In the graduation teaching, she is responsible for the disciplines of Fish Larviculture and Aquaponics at UNESP and advises students in these fields. She has authored approximately sixty manuscripts and book chapters. In 2022, Dr Portella was awarded “Fellow of the World Aquaculture Society”.