I am an assistant professor and a researcher at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of the Catholic University of Portugal at Porto, where I conducted postdoctoral studies in Education Sciences, specifically in Social Pedagogy. I hold a degree in Anthropology from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2004), a postgraduate certificate in Anthropology, Multiculturalism and Identities (2006) and a PhD in Urban Anthropology from ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (2013), with the thesis Between Project and Conviviality: being young in the poor outskirts of Mindelo, Cape Verde.
I have developed research with vulnerable young people in urban contexts in Cape Verde and Portugal, with particular focus on their educational trajectories and their civic participation. I was also a member of the PROMISE project team, carrying out ethnographic research on youth and social participation, particularly among early school leavers and / or young offenders. I am currently the operational coordinator of the ACT Aprender Com Todos project, a community-based research and intervention project in the city of Porto aiming to prevent school failure exclusion of vulnerable young people.
I have collaborated in several socio-educational projects and organizations, both in Portugal and in Cape Verde, in the fields of Youth, Education, Citizenship and Cultural Diversity. Between 2010 and 2016 I lectured at the Porto and Viana do Castelo Higher Schools of Education, in the fields of Social Pedagogy and Citizenship Education.