Adriana Marques is from São Paulo, a huge metropolitan city of Brazil. She has a Bachelor of Engineering gained in 1994 and she completed a post graduate qualification in Marketing and International Business in 2000. She has a MSc in Sanitation and Environmental Science from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas in 2003. Now she is doing her PhD at University of São Paulo- USP. She studied at Santa Monica College and University of California, Los Angeles from 1995 -1997. Adriana has a keen interest in recycling and reuse of wastewater and in the disinfection of wastewater systems using advanced oxidation processes or alternative processes. In her PhD her main research it is in wastewater treatment for reuse in agriculture - Alternative systems for small comunities

Adriana joined CEDAW - Glasgow in 2001 and developed the global communication strategy for the elimination of discrimination against woman in São Paulo. She was also involved in training and consultancy work in environmental education and training in company. Adriana has been working for SENAI since 2001 in São Paulo where she teaches and gives assistance in cleaner production projects. She has worked in a environmental project in conservation areas in Ubatuba with traditional communities and with the Instituto Florestal

She worked for two years in the first affirmative action project for African descent teenagers in Brazil named Generation XXI. This project was built by a NGO named Geledes - Institute of a Black Woman and Bank Boston Foundation. Prior to these two positions she worked at Playcenter, IBM-Brazil and at Ecovantage in California.

Her main hobbies are handball, outdoor sports and reading.