PhD in Sociology and degree in Law, Graça leads service design initiatives in Government within administrative modernisation and civic engagement public policies. At present, one of her main projets within national government is the Portuguese Participatory Budget, the first world wide initiative of this kind. Prior to this Graça was Deputy Mayor of Lisbon with the responsibilities in the areas of economy, innovation, education and administrative reform. For a period of 6 years (2009-2015) she led several initiatives, like the first Lisbon Incubator “Startup Lisboa”, the “Lisbon Entrepreneurship Program”, the “Lisbon Film Commission”, the “Code Academy” and the “Lisbon Participatory Budget”.