Daniela Fantoni Alvares has a PhD in Planning from the University of Minho and an MBA in Tourism. She is an Assistant Professor and is currently the Director of the Tourism Degree Program at the University of the Azores. University of the Azores, Portugal. She is also a researcher at the Centre of Applied Economics Studies of the Atlantic (CEEaplA) - University of the Azores, and external research at the Competitiveness, Governance and Public Policy (GOVCOPP) in the Tourism and Development Research Group - University of Aveiro, Portugal. Currently, she is a researcher on two projects, namely, TRANSlighthouses and SIEMCI . She was part of the research team at the program CeNTER: Community-led Networks for Territorial Innovation (University of Aveiro), which focuses on promoting a better understanding of the entrepreneurship ecosystems and analysing territorial innovation processes in the central region of Portugal. She has held management positions nationwide, such as department director and coordination manager for the Ministry of Tourism in Brazil. She has experience coordinating federal programmes like the Tourism Regionalisation Program and the eTec Network. She has researched planning, management, innovation, tourism, sustainability and cultural heritage.