Joana is a software engineer with more than fifteen years experience and a strong expertise in the field of geospatial tech and analytics. After acquiring a PhD in Geographic Information Systems, at the University College of London (2007), her drive to solve real-world problems has led her to SMEs, an international organization, a research foundation and a start-up.

Joana has been very much involved in the Free and Open Source Software community, in particular in what concerns geospatial technologies, standards and data. This has led her to become a charter member of the Open Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) in 2017, and the vice-president of the Portuguese chapter of OSGeo. During 2017 she also took a leading role at the board of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI), as a board director of the Industry Advisory Council.

Joana is the founder of EarthPulse, a SME in the field of data engineering and geospatial analytics. She is also a reviewer for the European Commission, and has been involved in education, teaching the next generation of full-stack developers and data analysts.