Filipe Costa is a marine ecologist and Associate Professor at the University of Minho, Portugal, where he leads a research group on Molecular Ecology, Biodiversity and DNA barcoding (ME-Barcode) within the Centre for Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA) and the Aquatic Research Network (ARNET). Filipe worked extensively in the development of reference libraries of DNA barcodes for marine invertebrates and fish from Europe, contributing to expose considerable hidden and cryptic diversity, and to develop semi-automated auditing, curation and annotation systems. Recent research interests and activities concentrate on the development high-throughput monitoring tools through (e)DNA metabarcoding, with particular focus on estuarine and marine ecosystems, macro and meiobenthos, zooplanktonic communities and ichthyofauna. He is Portugal delegate in the International Barcode of Life (iBOL), participates in the eDNAqua-Plan consortium and in the Ocean Biomolecular Observation Network (OBON), with an UN Ocean Decade Action (106.2: DNA-based approaches to fisheries monitoring). Serves in the Editorial Board of the scientific journals “Scientific Reports” and “Metabarcoding and Metagenomics”.