Maria João Lança obtained her PhD in Biology from the University of Lisbon in 2001, holds the title of Associate Professor in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from the University of Évora, and currently works as an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Évora. She is a member of the Mediterranean Institute of Agriculture, Environment, and Development (MED) and was coordinator of the Food Science and Technology research group (FST/MED). She is also trained as a coordinating researcher in animal experimentation (FELASA category C) and is accredited by the Directorate-General for Veterinary Medicine. She is also certified in GC/MS and LC/MS technology and chromatography courses. Her main research activity has been in the area of animal anatomy, physiology, and metabolism, and she also works on trophic biomarkers, such as fatty acid signatures, for studies of the food chain in the pelagic marine environment in diadromous fish and lipid markers for health, particularly in fish analysis. She also works on the nutritional quality of fish, mainly in diadromous species such as sea lamprey, mullet, Atlantic salmon, river trout, and others. She is currently developing early warning biomarker techniques to assess exposure to pollutants in teleost fish and their relationship with the environment.  She also supervises master's and doctoral students in the area of ​​nutritional composition of fish and trophic ecology of diadromous species.

She was/is a participating member in consultancy projects/service provision in various projects related to migratory fish such as: a) Implementation and Monitoring of the Fish Capture and Translocation Plan b) Plan for Monitoring, Adequacy and Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Compensatory Measures for the Fish Fauna Associated with the Ribeiradio-ermida Hydroelectric Power Plant (Phases I and II of Cycle I).GREENVOUGA c) Rehabilitation of Diadromous Fish Habitats in the Mondego River Basin d) Technical and Scientific Support To Evaluate The Efficiency And Efficacy Of The Fish Passage (PPP) Built In The Weir-Ponte De Coimbra; e) Optimization of ecological flows in hydroelectric dams to promote ecosystem services associated with fish fauna among others.