Dr. Guerra holds a PhD in Social Psychology (2007), and she is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Psychological Research and Social Intervention (CIS_Iscte). She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Psychology, University of Delaware for two years, and later in 2010 she joined Cis_Iscte. 

She is interested in intergroup relations, common identity and contact interventions to reduce discrimination and promote social change, as well as on intergroup approaches to collective narcissism, extremism, and hate speech. She is a Fellow of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI, Division 9 of the American Psychological Association).

She coordinated several projects supported by competitive grants from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT), the European Commission (European Fund for the Integration of non-EU immigrants, EIF, Citizens, Equality,  Rights and Values Programme - CERV), and La Caixa Foundation and participated in several others as a team member.

Her research has been published in respectable journals in her field (e.g., Psych. Science;  Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, Political Psychology, Eur. J. of Soc. Psychology., J. Personality and Social Psychology, J. of Applied Social Psychology, Eur. J. of Personality, Journal of Social Issues) and chapters in edited peer-reviewed volumes (e.g., Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination), accumulating over 2000 citations.

She actively integrates research into teaching activities, teaching in master programs in intercultural relations and social psychology, and supervising PhD and master students. 

She is Associated Editor of Journal of Applied Social Psychology and served as a Guest Editor of the Special Issue, Unpacking the social psychology of populism, for the Journal of Theoretical and Social Psychology. She is currently a a member of the Executive Committee of the International Contact Research Network.

She served as the Vice Director of CIS_Iscte from 2016-2020 and is a member of CIS_Iscte Scientific Commission (2021-25). She served as Vice-President of  the Scientific Council of ISCTE Knowledge & Innovation Center (2023-25) and she is currently a co-coordinator of the Thematic Line Global Governance (SocioDigital Lab for Public Policy).