Thais Macedo is a biologist with a Masters in Ecology from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and is currently a PhD student at the ICTA-UAB "Maria de Maetzu" unit of excellence.  For her PhD research, she will join social and ecological sciences to investigate changes in small-scale fisheries on Maio Island, Cape Verde, from a historical perspective. The project also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Maio's marine protected areas and to provide management recommendations based on the prediction of future social-ecological scenarios. This project arose from a collaboration between the MERS and TRADITION research groups with the Maio Biodiversity Foundation (FMB), a local environmental NGO in Maio, where Thais is the coordinator of the marine and sustainable fishery program.