Holds a degree in Clinical Psychology (University of Coimbra). She completed her Master’s and PhD in Social Psychology at ISCTE (including a research internship at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia). She holds a professional specialty in Work, Social and Organizational Psychology and an advanced specialty in Psychotherapy (OPP), with EMDR training (Levels 1 and 2). She is a lecturer at ISCTE and a researcher at CIS since 1999, having held several management roles during this period: she is currently Director of the Master’s Programme in Community Psychology and Protection of Children and Young People at Risk (also in 2018–2019); she was President of the Specialized Committee on Ethics in Psychology (2023–2025); and she was President of the Pedagogical Council of ISCTE for two terms (2019–2023).

She has coordinated and collaborated on social and community intervention studies and projects, particularly in the field of programme evaluation, at the local/municipal level, at the national level (e.g., Playgroups for Inclusion/Learn, Play, Grow Groups; Choices Programme, 7th Generation; studies for the National Council for Health Communication), and in other international projects (e.g., ISCWeB – International Survey on Children’s Well-Being; GRIT – Erasmus+ Project – Growing in Urban Education and Diversity; Yar4all).

In 2018, she collaborated as a Quality Monitor for the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in an OECD-led project on socioemotional skills, and served as technical and scientific consultant for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the Gulbenkian Knowledge Academies Programme (2018–2022). In addition to her longstanding interest in inclusion (having been involved in the Portuguese Diversity Charter), she has worked in the field of risk (Gambling and adolescence, in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University) and in child and youth protection. Together with colleagues, she has developed materials aimed at promoting children’s rights (“Discovering Children’s Rights”, published by the Portuguese Parliament), universal prevention of sexual abuse (“The Adventures of Búzio and Coral”; “Picos and Avelã Discover the Treasure Forest”), and child hearing in court (“Hearing the Child: A Guide to Good Practice”; “João Goes to Court/The Day Mariana Didn’t Want To”; Project 12: www.projeto12.pt).

In 2017, she took part in the T.A.L.E. project (Training Activities for Legal Experts), which aimed to train professionals for the correct implementation of the Council of Europe Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice. She was a member of the Board of CSIS – Child Safeguarding in Sport and of the Scientific Council of the UBUNTU Leaders Academy. She was a trainer at the Centre for Judicial Studies (CEJ) on Child Hearing (2016–2023). She provided supervision to family support teams (SCML, 2017–2020). She has served as consultant for ACRIDES (Cape Verde) and for the Council of Europe within a project on child-friendly justice.

She is currently a member of the VITA Group, a monitoring group for situations of sexual violence involving children and vulnerable adults within the context of the Catholic Church in Portugal, and serves on the national board of the Portuguese Psychologists’ Association (OPP). She received the OPP Southern Region Career Award in 2020.