With a background in communication design, Joana is a connector, translator, and facilitator. She earned an awarded PhD at Ph.D at Central Saint Martins London where she explored the experiential qualities of sustainability, and developed a design method with 17 startups that has since benefited organizations and accelerator programs.

She partners with innovation teams to research sustainable solutions and with senior leadership to challenge the status quo in their sectors.

As an educator, Joana has been Professor at ISEG Business School Lisbon, founding faculty of CODE University of Applied Sciences Berlin, visiting lecturer at Hyper Island, Stockholm School of Creative Entrepreneurship, and teaching team at IDEO U.

As a speaker, she regularly shares insights on the challenges and opportunities of sustainability innovation. She is a founding creative leader at NEOL and writes about Research as Mesearch—how working in the world shapes the inner life of designers. She also founded a creative retreat venue in Portugal.

Joana works globally from a farm outside Lisbon, with previous chapters in Berlin, Indonesia, and London.