Dr. Portman graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a B.Sc. in Political Economy of Natural Resources, the Technion with a M.Sc. in Urban and Regional Planning (’91), and UMass Boston with a doctorate in Public Policy (’07).  She held a two-year postdoctoral fellowship position (2007-09) at the Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution located in Cape Cod, USA.  Currently her research focuses on coastal zone management, marine spatial planning, management of marine protected areas, marine litter from land-based sources, water sensitive planning and governance of the land-sea interface. She heads the MarCoast Ecosystems Integration Lab and authored Environmental Planning for Oceans and Coasts: Tools, Methods and Technologies (Springer, 2016), as well as wrote or co-wrote over 60 journal articles. Prior to her academic experience Dr. Portman held leading positions in public sector environmental agencies and organizations for over 15 years.  She is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Kiel Marine Sciences, a leading academic research program of Christian Albrechts University of Germany and she serves on the Board of Directors of Mei-Carmel - the Haifa Water Authority.