April 5, 2025 @ Porto Business School
A one-day, free, in-person event full of learning and professional networking designed for women in technology. Access talks, workshops, career opportunities and networking to boost your career and drive change in the sector.
WHY ATTEND
We have a full in-person day of talks, workshops, career opportunities and networking awaiting you. Meet like-minded tech professionals and unlock your full potential.
Geek Girls Conference will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the community. But most importantly?
We want to celebrate women working in technology. Join us and let us celebrate together!
We are looking for passionate speakers in tech who want to share their expertise with our audience and empower women to succeed in their technology careers.
Our conference is open to all kinds of talks and workshops from the world of IT. We are seeking volunteers who are eager to deliver in-person talks and workshops focused on real-world trends and practical insights into technology, career development, diversity, and inclusion in the field.
The deadline for submissions is 22 February 2025.
At our conference, you’ll learn something new, sharpen your skills, share your stories, and grow your network of trailblazing women in the industry.
We are on a journey to close the gender gap and empower women’s careers in technology. And we need you here!
Listen to passionate speakers eager to update you on industry and career trends in tech.
1Choose what you want to learn in our workshops and deep-dive into topics that matter to you.
2Grab the opportunity to connect with companies committed to driving change in technology, share your CV, and make valuable connections.
3With a multitude of networking opportunities, you will also have the chance to establish mentorship relationships.
4Engage in conversations and share ideas with like-minded women driving change, pioneering new ideas, and thriving in the tech industry.
5There’s a place for everyone at Geek Girls Portugal. Share your stories and form valuable connections.
6Choose what you want to learn in our workshops and deep-dive into topics that matter to you.
2With a multitude of networking opportunities, don't forget to connect and find your next mentor among the conference attendees.
4There’s a place for everyone at Geek Girls Portugal. Share your stories and make valuable connections for your career.
6The conference agenda will be out soon! Stay tuned!
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Vânia Gonçalves
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
AI can prep, automate and optimize, but should it take over the entire experience? While technology lays a strong foundation, the final touch often requires human expertise to ensure trust, personalization and engagement. In this talk, we’ll explore the balance between AI and human intuition, breaking down a decision-making framework for seamless integration across industries. And who knows, there might even be a fun analogy to bring it all to life!
Madalena Costa
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Leadership is more than the idealized image of guiding teams to success—it involves tough decisions, emotional challenges, and balancing people and business goals. Women often face bias for showing emotions, but when managed well, emotions can strengthen leadership. I’ll discuss major leadership challenges such as imposter syndrome, leadership loneliness, and difficult conversations, sharing how I overcame them and introducing the concept of assertive empathy.
Joana Silva
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Have you ever wondered how your order arrives at your doorstep in just 40 minutes? The world of Q-Commerce is a complex network of third-party platforms, efficient order management systems, and smooth store operations, all collaborating to enable rapid deliveries. In this talk, we will take you on a journey through Q-Commerce, emphasizing the crucial role of systems resilience in propelling this fast-paced industry. Join us as we uncover the behind-the-scenes processes that guarantee timely and reliable service.
Ana Carolina Castro
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
The concept of observability and its critical role in modern software systems will be explored. The three pillars of observability—logs, metrics, and tracing—will be examined to illustrate how they enable teams to detect and resolve issues efficiently. A real-world case study will demonstrate how a robust observability setup was instrumental in identifying the root cause of a complex problem.
Gisele Ferreira
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Join this Fireside Chat with Bárbara Pires as she shares her professional journey from Civil Engineer to Software Engineer at Google.
Bárbara Pires
2.2 Room | Floor 2
Are you ready to dive into Kotlin, the modern and expressive programming language that's taking the development world by storm?
Mafalda Landeiro
1.13 Auditorium| Floor 1
The workshop is designed to empower women to step into leadership roles with confidence and impact. In a tech industry still largely dominated by men, women often face unique challenges when stepping into leadership positions. This session will explore key strategies for navigating leadership, breaking stereotypes, and building a strong personal leadership brand. Using real-world examples and interactive discussions, we'll decode what it takes to lead authentically and effectively.
Ana Azevedo
2.3 Room | Floor 2
This session will be of value to all testers involved in working with requirements, especially in the pre-development phase. During the presentation and interactive session, we'll cover general approaches,
the quality properties of requirements, and specific questions to ask business analysts or product owners to improve the quality of requirements.
Hanna Kaplun
2.8 Room | Floor 2
Discover how Power Automate and Power Apps can transform the way you work by automating tasks and building custom apps with minimal coding. In this workshop, we'll explore how Power Apps enables rapid app development to meet business needs and how Power Automate simplifies workflow automation, helping you streamline processes and boost efficiency. Through practical examples and demos, you'll see real-world applications of these tools and how they can drive digital transformation in any organization.
Mariana Oliveira
2.7 Room | Floor 2
Build reliable automation frameworks from scratch using Python.
Confidently decide what to automate, focusing on maximizing efficiency and coverage.
Write test scripts that are easy to maintain, scale, and debug.
Seamlessly integrate API testing into their automation strategy, ensuring comprehensive test coverage.
Mariami Goginava
EDP Auditorium | Floor 1
Success in tech requires more than technical skills—it's about mastering strategies that accelerate your career. In the workshop "The Unspoken Rules: How to Scale Your Career Toolkit," you'll explore techniques to enhance hard and soft skills. Learn networking, mentorship, branding, and continuous learning strategies to navigate workplace dynamics and elevate your career.
Rita Gouveia
2.2 Room | Floor 2
This workshop explores core Functional Programming concepts, contrasts them with object-oriented programming, and dives into Elixir's powerful features like immutability and pattern matching. Learn when to use Functional Programming, its advantages in concurrency, and its limitations. By the end, you'll write your first Elixir code and understand why top companies like Discord and Pinterest use it.
Liliana Pereira
1.13 Auditorium | Floor 1
#IAmRemarkable is a global movement that empowers everyone to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond. The main goal? Lift the motivation and skills of self promotion and challenge the social perception around self promotion. During the workshop, you will learn the importance of self-promotion in your personal and professional life and be equipped with tools to develop this skill.
Patrícia Duarte Mateus
2.3 Room | Floor 2
Most of our jobs require a certain amount of mundane manual tasks that take hours of our time and bring literally no joy, and sometimes we even push those tasks to a corner. With this workshop, I would like to introduce you to the amazing abilities of Power Automate! With some simple workflow automations, you can automatically remind a colleague to fill in the excel file that they keep forgetting, or after submitting a form, automatically be added to an event. With all of these and much more, you can free up space in your work calendar and have that much-needed cup of coffee 🙂
Catarina Silva
2.8 Room | Floor 2
Discover how to transform professional communities into powerful career catalysts in this interactive workshop. Learn to identify valuable tech networks, develop engagement strategies, and create actionable steps for meaningful connections. Walk away with practical tools to leverage communities for new opportunities and accelerated professional growth in the tech industry.
Tzufit Herling
2.7 Room | Floor 2
Struggling with long feedback cycles when developing backend cloud applications? In this hands-on workshop, we will set up a local Kubernetes cluster, deploy applications and mocks, and see code changes reflected. We will explore different infrastructure flavours and if time allows even validate those changes. Join us to boost your developer experience!
Joana Carneiro
EDP Auditorium | Floor 1
Your personal brand isn’t just a logo or a LinkedIn headline—it’s the story you tell and the impact you make. In this practical workshop, you will explore your personal brand through the lens of the hero’s journey, theory of archetypes, and other social psychological tools. With the support of other participants, you will uncover how you are perceived, identify the traits shaping your identity, and define a mission that truly reflects your values and aspirations. By the end, you will have a clearer sense of your unique path and a personal statement that resonates with you and your personal and professional identities.
Marina Kauponen
Elizaveta Osmak
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Join this Fireside Chat with Célia Cruz to learn about her track record from an MSc in Bioengineering to being recognized as EU Women in Tech in 2025.
Célia Cruz
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Artificial intelligence is leading a new era of innovation, making drug discovery faster, more efficient and more accessible. Conversational AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude dominate the popular consciousness, but specialized applications of generative AI such as biological large language models (BioLLMs) are driving true breakthroughs, particularly in healthcare and life sciences. This presentation will first provide an overview of the existing landscape of BioLLMs and it will dive into how BioLLMs are being leveraged for AI-driven drug discovery for both predictive and generative use cases by focusing on applications such as variant effect prediction and drug-target interaction.
Maria Loureiro
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Deep Learning (DL) is deeply embedded in our world, influencing our daily lives and several industries. DL models require considerable storage capacity and efficiency as datasets can reach sizes in the order of TBs, often causing bottlenecks in the training performance. This presentation explores state-of-the-art approaches to optimize data access and storage that can help reduce training times and improve resource utilization.
Maria Beatriz Moreira
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Join me exploring how a career journey moved from communications and marketing to becoming a Chief of Staff in tech. I'll highlight the critical role of a CoS in driving organizational change through collaboration and trust. Together, we'll explore how empathy and strong relationships foster effective decision-making and promote innovation. Let's inspire each other to embrace our potential as catalysts for growth in the tech industry.
Ana Cláudia Santos-Cortez
PBS Auditorium | Floor 0
Vânia Gonçalves
Deck
TBA!
HR Transformation Manager (PwC Portugal)
Polymath with a Bachelor, Master and PhD in Educational Sciences. HR Transformation Manager at PwC Portugal, Lecturer at ISTEC, Researcher at the Center for Educational Research and Intervention at the University of Porto (CIIE-UP), Pedagogical Reviewer for the European Commission and Advisory Board Member at Unilinkr.
She worked as Head of Talent, Development and Organizational Change at Efacec, Business Consultant at NOVA SBE, Learning Researcher at Farfetch and Project Manager of International Research, Development and Innovation at the Institute for Quality and Welding (ISQ).
She has also been Director and Editor of Le Cool Lisboa Cultural Agenda and Revista Gerador, Speaker at Rádio Portuense, Host of CreativeMornings Porto and a regular guest at Porto Canal.
Product Manager (MC Digital)
Ana is a passionate Product Manager with a deep love for retail and a curiosity that fuels her desire to keep learning and improving. With a keen interest in how businesses evolve to meet customer needs, she's always looking for ways to enhance the customer experience and drive growth in retail. Over the last 5 years, she specializes in bridging the gap between business needs and technical solutions.
Chief of Staff, Product & Engineering (Feedzai)
As a mission-driven professional in technology, Ana leads by influence, fostering co-creation and collaboration, privileging a smooth balance between business success and people happiness. Simultaneously a proud working-mother, she enjoys sharing insights from balancing leadership and parenthood, aiming to create inclusive environments that inspire innovations and growth for all.
Software Engineer (Google)
Bárbara is a Civil Engineer turned Software Engineer. Bárbara started her professional career as a Software Engineer in 2019, after studying Computer and Software Engineering in ISEL - Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa. She already had the opportunity to work on mobile, backend and frontend development. In 2022 she embraced a new challenge in one of her dream companies — Google. She works in the sovereignty space and is ramping up to become a team lead in her current project.
IT Engineer (Philip Morris international)
Catarina works at Philip Morris as a Software Engineer. Her primary focus has been on Power Platforms, since its birth to this day, where she has developed incredible automations and built user-friendly applications, allowing her to create solutions that enhance efficiency and productivity for end users. Her journey has been driven by a desire to be a pioneer in new technologies, exploring uncharted territories to make a significant impact.
Founder and Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer (Complear)
Célia Cruz is the Founder and Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer at Complear, where she supports digital health and medtech companies with software and AI solutions. In 2025, she and Complear were recognized as winners of the Women in Tech EU awards. She has over 14 years of experience in healthcare innovation and more than 7 years specializing in software as a medical device. She holds a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering and an MSc in Bioengineering, focusing on Biomedical Engineering. Additionally, she serves as an Invited Professor at the University of Porto, teaching Management and Innovation in Bioengineering.
Head of Learning and Development (Devexperts)
Elizaveta Osmak is an SHRM-SCP certified HR professional with a Master’s in Social Psychology and 10+ years of experience in talent development across IT, finance, and other sectors. An advocate for people empowerment and development, leading the #IAmRemarkable initiative for more than 5 years.
Engineering Manager (Banco Central do Brasil)
Master in Computer Science, with over 25 years of experience in software development, Gisele has taken on different roles in different countries. Gisele has worked as an Agile Coach, QA Lead, Project Manager, and Fullstack Developer, and for the past five years, she has been working as an Engineering Manager. Currently, she's responsible for the Monitoring/Observability of PIX in Brazil, the electronic money transfer system developed by the Central Bank of Brazil.
Automation Test Engineering Lead (Intellias)
Hanna has experience across multiple platforms and industries, including medicine, telecom, and automotive. She has expertise in Oracle databases, analytics, and development and holds certifications in AWS, Azure, and GCP. Hanna has led pre-sales and quality audits and is an experienced lecturer, author, and international speaker on testing and R programming.
Engineering Manager (SAP)
Joana is a passionate Software Engineer, gone Engineering Manager, focused in the craftsmanship process of building software. She has worked with many technologies, using many hats, delivering software for companies around the globe. As a result she's always eager to navigate the next technological challenge!
Director of Quality Assurance (Broadvoice)
Joana is the Director of Quality Assurance at Broadvoice with 6 years of leadership experience, driving high-performing teams and fostering a culture of excellence. Demonstrated leadership growth, with a significant increase in direct reports and responsibilities. She has been recognized with two Leadership Impact Awards for outstanding vision, communication, and team empowerment. She is certified in Women Leadership, with a strong focus on process optimization, efficiency, and quality excellence.
Software engineer (Coverflex)
Liliana Pereira is an experienced backend developer with over 15 years in the field. Specializing primarily in PHP, then Typescript and more recently in Elixir, she has worked internationally, holding roles with a direct connection to the markets of The Netherlands, England, Germany and, currently, Portugal. Having grown up in a small town in the interior of Portugal, she truly believes in the importance of working passionately towards a goal, independently of background and initial life opportunities. She's a Geek Girls Portugal ambassador in Faro and Lisbon.
Lead product designer (Glanceable)
Madalena is a Head of Product Experience and Operations passionate about AI-driven, human-centered design. As a Google Women Techmakers Ambassador and Co-lead of Ladies that UX Lisbon, she advocates for diversity, mentors women in tech and shares insights on AI in product, systems thinking and innovation.
Senior Software Engineer (Blip)
Mafalda is a passionate software developer who loves building and learning. With years of experience, she actively contributes to the tech community through freelance work, blogging, and teaching programming and software quality at ISEP. She also shared her knowledge in tech lectures and even authored a book chapter on GraphQL in 2020.
Engaging in technical discussions and exploring new ideas excites her, as she thrives on challenges.
Her goal is to keep growing, sharing, and making a positive impact in the tech world!
Software Developer (Critical Techworks)
Maria Beatriz is a software engineer with a Master's in Distributed Systems and Applications Engineering. She started as a Researcher in INESC TEC, focusing on distributed and storage systems. Her passion for creating impactful products and her interest in the automotive industry led her to join Critical Techworks, where she works on automated driving in the field of embedded systems.
Machine Learning Engineer (LOKA)
Maria is a Bioengineer passionate about leveraging data and AI to transform health care and life sciences. As a Machine Learning Engineer at LOKA, an AI powerhouse, she develops AI pipelines for Biotech and Pharma companies, improving patient outcomes and enabling digital therapeutics. Beyond her core role, Maria manages projects for Cruzamento Podcast, oversees business initiatives at GenH, and contributes to projects with a social and sustainable impact in Porto, as a Global Shaper.
QA Manager (Crocobet)
Mariami serves as the Quality Assurance Chapter Head at Crocobet, a leading gambling company in Georgia, where she oversees a team of manual and automation engineers. Her responsibilities include developing test strategies, managing release processes, and expanding automation coverage to enhance software quality and efficiency.
In addition to her role, Mariami is a manager at the Georgian Software Testing Qualifications Board (GeoSTQB), where she evaluates new software testing certifications and assesses their applicability within the Georgian market.
She is also an instructor at SoftFan Academy, where she prepares future QA professionals for the global workforce. Furthermore, she serves as a lecturer in manual and test automation at Business and Technology University (BTU).
Mariami is recognized as the first tester in Georgia to obtain the A4Q Practical Tester certification, demonstrating her commitment to advancing the field of software testing and automation.
Power Platform Engineer (7.1 Tech Hub)
Mariana Oliveira is a Chemical Engineer who found a passion for programming while working with VBA. That led her to PLC programming, and eventually to the Power Platform, where she has been working for the past four years. She loves helping companies streamline their processes and boost efficiency through low-code development, making technology more accessible and impactful.
Head of HR Brand and Communication (Devexperts)
Marina Kauponen is an HR professional with over 10 years of experience in building strong, engaging organizational cultures and leading distributed multicultural teams. She started her career in journalism and has extensive experience in communications and developing brand strategies for major companies.
Solution Architect and QA Advocate (TestRail)
With more than 10 years of experience in Software QA, being involved in several projects and communities, Patrícia Duarte Mateus (creator of "A QA Portuguesa" project) found out that soft skills and human relations are super important if one wants to leverage our personal and professional life, so becoming a #IAmRemarkable workshop facilitator made perfect sense when the opportunity arose. She's also a Geek Girls Portugal ambassador.
People Experience Lead (xgeeks)
Rita works at xgeeks, a top 25 tech company in Portugal (2024) and winner of the Portuguese Women in Tech award (2023).
She specializes in strategic HR for tech companies, from startups to scaleups.
With seven years of experience, she focuses on agile teams and employee-centric strategies.
Owner and Consultant (Connecteur)
A community development expert, Tzufit Herling drives organizational transformation through strategic consulting and training programs. With global experience bridging online and offline platforms, she specializes in designing impactful community initiatives. Being tech savvy, her work centers on entrepreneurship, innovation, social impact and DEI.
Founder (Geek Girls Portugal)
Vânia founded in 2010 the first Portuguese community for women in tech, Geek Girls Portugal, a community dedicated to inspiring, mentoring and empowering women to excel in technology careers. Vânia is passionate about women’s empowerment, diversity and inclusion and throughout her career dedicates efforts on building a more diverse tech ecosystem while supporting women in tech to step up. With over 20 years of international experience in technology, security, digital transformation and research across different industries, Vânia is a passionate and driven leader who aims to leverage technology, research and innovation to create positive social impact. She is currently also a Research Manager at Cloudflare.
GPS Coordinates: 41.182873,-8.654078
