Mara Clemente is a sociologist with teaching and research interests focused on migration and gender issues and qualitative research methods. Her fields of expertise cover human trafficking, refugees, sex work and sex tourism.

Mara is currently working on a research project entitled “The Construction of Counter-Trafficking Regimes in Mediterranean Europe: Actors, Discourses and Representations”, whose main objective is to analyse anti-trafficking systems in Southern Europe (2018-2024). Through funding provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), she previously carried out a study on policies and practices of protection of trafficked women in Portugal (2014-2018).

Mara holds a PhD in Theory and Social Research from the Sapienza University of Rome with a research on minors prostitution and sex tourism in the Dominican Republic (2010). After her PhD she worked as a researcher in academic research projects and action-research projects for different organisations in Europe and South America focusing on subjects such as integration of refugees, representation of migration, and history of women. 

In 2014 Mara joined the Center for Research and Studies of Sociology (CIES-IUL) of ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), where she is currently an integrated researcher. She is associate researcher of the Emigration Observatory (OEm) and, since 2016, she has been an invited professor of the same institute. Mara has been a visiting professor in master’s degree programs and PhD courses in Portugal, Spain and Italy.