Alexandra Polido is a Full Researcher of the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP) at the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences of the University of Aveiro (DCSPT, UA). She holds a PhD in Environment and Sustainability Sciences (NOVA University of Lisbon, Dec. 2016). She is a alumna of the Robert Bosch Stiftung Postdoctoral Academy for Transformational Leadership.

Polido is the Principal Investigator of two FCT-funded projects: ENVISION (250 000€/3 years; started 22 Mar 2021), examining how environmental policy tools at the sub-national levels may enhance a transformation towards a sustainable society, and POWER.US (50 000€/1,5 years; started 01 Mar 2023) exploring the role of power dynamics in Environmental Assessment (EA) shaping urban sustainability. She also received an FCT CEEC Junior Researcher position, granted through a competitive national call (FCT; own salary; 1 Apr 2019 to 23 Jul 2023). Her research focused on environmental policies and planning for sustainable transformation, specifically institutional governance structures and urban systems transformation.

Her landmark work found that the EA of policies and plans has a transformative capacity to empower individuals and communities. Polido also found that the EA transformative capacity links with the institutional dimension of public policies and governance structures at different scales (see Polido et al. 2018). This work was highlighted by high-profile scholars in the field (see Bond et al. 2018. Environ. Impact Assess. Rev. 68:49-58).

Polido published 9 articles indexed in ISI/Scopus journals, 6 as the first and corresponding author in sustainability and environmental policy and planning. Also, she has published 3 book chapters (1 as a single-author), 1 peer-reviewed paper in an international professional practice journal, 5 full papers and more than 30 abstracts/communications in international conferences.

She also coordinated interdisciplinary research with significant scientific and societal impacts, resulting in a paper published in a high-impact journal (J. Clean. Prod.; Polido et al., 2019), a Policy Brief, and a discussion of the research with policymakers from the Portuguese Centro Region, influencing future Centro Strategies. The Policy Brief was cited in a policy document: CCDR Centro (2021). Estratégia Regional de Especialização Inteligente do Centro: Revisão para o período 2021-2027. This research inspired a funded project on the European Structural and Investment Funds’ (ESIF) impact on the Sustainable Development of Regions in Portugal (team member; 92 000€/1 year; ended 31 Jan 2023).

She teaches Environment and Development Strategies to MSc programmes at DCSPT, UA. She is the principal supervisor of 2 Postdocs and 2 PhD students. She also co-supervises 1 PhD student and 1 MSc. Previously, she co-supervised 7 MSc and mentored 3 BSc students.

Polido regularly contributes to the editorial activities of international scientific journals as a reviewer. In the past 5 years, she reviewed more than 39 articles for journals such as J. Clean. Prod, Sci. Rep., Environ. Impact Assess. Rev., J. Environ. Manag. She is also a Scientific Committee Member for Guaju - Brazilian Journal of Sustainable Territorial Development.