Inês Machado holds a master’s degree in marine sciences obtained at the University of Porto and a PhD in Marine Sciences in the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon.

She is a marine ecologist, with 15 years of experience in the assessment of the impacts of human activities in the sea. Her work aims to contribute to increasing the sustainability of the exploitations of the ocean.

Her research started in the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries (DOP) and Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), focusing on the detection of impacts of human activities in the sea, such as artisanal and industrial fisheries.

She integrated WavEC in 2012, as a researcher and project manager and has been involved in several R&D projects and on EIA of marine renewable energy projects and environmental licensing. Her research has been focused on the environmental impacts of offshore renewable energy projects, focusing on benthic communities, underwater noise, biofouling growth and impacts on marine mammals caused by marine renewables’ and offshore wind devices.

She is also a lecturer in the European Masters in Renewable Energy (EUREC), at IST of the University of Lisbon, on environmental aspects of offshore technologies, marine spatial planning and GIS multicriteria tools to support renewable energy site selection.

Nowadays, she is the Head of Marine Environment and Licensing at WAVEC Offshore Renewables.