I work in Education, Consultancy and Research in Performance Science and Performance Psychology across the Performing Arts. Currently, I am Assistant Professor of Performance Science at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Before moving to Canada, I worked as Programme Leader of the MSc/MFA in Dance Science and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. I also worked at the Centre for Performance Science, a partnership of the Royal College of Music and Imperial College, London, where I was Research Associate in Performance Science working on a major project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to investigate the health and wellbeing of musicians studying and working in the UK.
My research focuses on performance psychology, with a particular emphasis on performers' health and wellbeing, performance enhancement and career development. I am especially interested in studying how performers from different domains develop and employ psychological skills and strategies and their impact on performers’ health, wellbeing, and success.
I hold a PhD in Psychology from the University of Minho, as well as a PGDip in Educational Psychology and a Licenciatura in Psychology from University of Évora, Portugal. I have also trained extensively in dance education.
I have been working in Higher Education since 2003, and I have lectured widely on performance psychology and other psychology subjects, across Europe and South America.
I am a Chartered Psychologist by the British Psychological Society (UK) and an effective member of the Order of Psychologists (Portugal), and research member of the Research unit in Music and Performing Arts at i2ADS (Research Institute in Arts, Design and Society, University of Porto). I am also member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and One Dance UK.
Portugal