Helena Carreiras is Vice rector and a full professor of Sociology, Public Policy and Research Methodology at ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), and a senior researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES- IUL). She holds a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute (Florence). Between 2016 and 2019 she was the dean of the School of Sociology and Public Policy of ISCTE-IUL  and between 2017 and 2019 the president of the European Association ERGOMAS (European Research Group on Military and Society).  She served as deputy director of the Portuguese National Defense Institute (2010-2012) and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Georgetown (Department of Government) (2013/2014). Between 2019 and 2022 she directed the National Defence Institute and between 2022 and  2024 she was the Minister of National Defense of Portugal, being the first woman to occupy both positions. Her research interests are in gender and society, armed forces, civil-military relations, security and defence public policies and qualitative research methodology. Her work has focused on gender integration in military institutions and gender aspects of international security. Among other works, she co-edited The Impact of Social Research on the Military (Routledge, 2021, with Celso Castro and Eyal Ben-Ari) Researching the Military (Routledge, 2016, with Celso Castro and Sabina Frederic), Qualitative Methods in Military Studies (Routlege, 2013, with Celso Castro) and Women in the Military and in Armed Conflict, (Vs Verlag, 2008, with Gerhard Kuemmel). She is the author of Gender and the Military. Women in the Armed Forces of Western Democracies (Routledge, 2006).