Ana Rita Simões is a Taxonomist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, focusing on Taxonomy and Systematics of African flora, and Visiting Professor at Ghent University (Belgium), where she teaches Biodiversity Conservation. She specialises in Convolvulaceae, the family of sweet potato and morning glories, with ongoing research in Ethiopia, Kenya, Guinea and Ghana, including the supervision of several PhD and MSc students in these countries. She has also coordinated Plant Taxonomy courses and has a keen interest in developing Plant Taxonomy capacity in Africa at graduate and postgraduate level. Her current projects involve partnerships with the East African Herbarium, JKUAT and University of Nairobi, in Kenya; Addis Ababa University, in Ethiopia; Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry (UGANC), in Guinea; and the University of Ghana.