She has a PhD in Sociology and she is a full professor and coordinator of the Sociology Unit at the University of Lisbon Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP). She founded and now runs the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies (CIEG) at ISCSP. She has been a member of the team responsible for implementing the European Social Survey in Portugal since 2002.
She is an expert on subjects such as gender, family, marriage, divorce, work/family relations, the protection of children and young people, moral and sexual harassment and has set up several Master’s and postgraduate courses in these areas. Her research has served as the basis for legislative changes, such as the amendment to the divorce law or the changes relating to moral and sexual harassment.

She has been part of several international research networks under Framework Programmes 6, 7 and the European Commission's Horizon 2020. She was President of the Portuguese Sociological Association (2002-2006) and the European Sociological Association (2009-2011). She was on the European Research Council’s Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviour evaluation panel and has held a number of positions in the International Sociological Association. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Higher Education Assessment and Accreditation Agency (A3ES) since 2020.

Last updated: May 2023