Maria Helena Nazaré is the Vice-President of the European University Association (EUA). She is the former Rector of the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and has experience in higher education management at the institutional, national and international level. She was rector of the University of Aveiro in 2002-10. She is a member of the Research Working Group of the European University Association and member of the EUA Institutional Evaluation Pool and has participated in the evaluation of universities in Spain, Turkey, Palestine and Slovenia. She is Chair of the Portuguese Rector’s Conference Committee for Research and Knowledge-transfer and a member of the administration board of Portugal Telecom. She started her academic career in Mozambique, in 1973, lecturing at the University Eduardo Mondlane. She completed her PhD in Physics at King’s College London in 1978. In 1986, she was appointed leader of the research group in Spectroscopy of Semiconductors in the Department of Physics at the University of Aveiro. She has participated in OECD reviews of higher education in regional and city development in Catalonia (Spain) and Lombardy (Italy). She is Member of the Administration Board of Portugal Telecom, President of the Advisory Board of Fundação Galp Energia and President of the Portuguese Physics Society.