Born in Lisbon in 1950,  graduated in History the University of Lisbon in 1974, she studied postgraduate studies at the University of Paris I-Sorbonne and obtained the DEA (Diplôme d'Etudes Approffondies) in 1983 and the PhD in Contemporary Social History in 1995 under the guidance of Professor Maurice Agulhon.

Associate Professor (retired) in the History Department of ISCTE-IUL where she has held positions since the academic year 1976-77. In his teaching she taught in Modern and Contemporary History, Sociology, Anthropology and Business Management, Masters in Contemporary Social History and Modern and Contemporary History, PHD in Modern and Contemporary History of ISCTE-IUL and the Interuniversity Program of PhD in History (PIUDH).

She was a member of the Doctoral School of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) in Paris and a guest lecturer at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). She was coordinator of the European Master's program in Political and Cultural History of Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Europe, integrating EPHE (Paris), University of Pisa, University of Pablo de Olavide in Seville, University of Athens and ISCTE-IUL

 Researcher at CEHC (Centro de Estudos de Historia Contemporânea) since the foundation  who she developed her main activity as a researcher and where she coordinated research in Political and Cultural History. She was also coordinator of CEHC Portugal's collection of books: State, Society and Economy. Currently integrates CIES-IUL.

Among the research projects in which she participates is the international project Iberconceptos, where she has been coordinator of the Portuguese team since 2005 and where she is currently director of the group: Language of Identity and Difference: classes, corporations, castes and races http: //www.iberconceptos.net. He was also responsible in Portugal for the project Re-imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean 1750-1860, of the University of Oxford.

Director of the revue Ler Historia from 2014 to 2016,  she is  member of the editorial board of the revue since her foundation. She is also a consultant to the revues  CEM. Culture, Space and Memory (CITCEM), Memoria and Ricerca. Rivista di Storia Contemporanea (Italy), and Ariadna. Languages, concepts and metaphors (Spain), IHGB Magazine (Brazil).

She is the author / coordinator, among others, of the following works:

Diccionario político y social iberoamericano, Iberconceptos II Javier Fernández Sebastián director, ( co-editora e autora de diversas entradas) Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales, Madrid, 2014, Tomo II , 10 vols.

Diccionario político y social iberoamericano. Conceptos políticos en la era de las independencias, 1750-1850 Iberconceptos I, Javier Fernández Sebastián director, ( co-editora e autora de diversas entradas) Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales,  Madrid, 2009. Tomo I.

Contra-Revolução, Espírito Público e Opinião no Sul da Europa: séculos XVIII E XIX, Lisboa, CEHCP, 2009 (coord.).

“Entre velhos e novos sentidos: “povo” e “povos” no mundo ibero-americano, 1750-1850”, Jahrbuch Fur Geschichte Lateinamerikas, Anuário de Historia de América Latina, Band 45, Bohlau Verlag Koln Weimar Wien (2008) pp. 245-274

D. Miguel (em co-autoria com Maria Alexandre Lousada), Circulo de Leitores, Colecção Biografias dos Reis de Portugal, 2006.

Rebeldes e Insubmissos: Resistências Populares ao Liberalismo – 1834-1844, Ed. Afrontamento, Porto, 2002.

The  areas of research are: Political and Cultural History, History of Concepts and Languages, Contemporary History of Portugal (19th century), History of Social Movements, History of the Counter-revolution.