Ana Luísa Costa holds a PhD in Education Sciences and an Integrated Master in Psychology - FPCEUP. Her main research interests and professional activities focus on professional activism (advocacy), political participation and political education, activist learning and knowledge production, educational, social and community intervention, professionals' practices and knowledge to work with people in situations of vulnerability, social justice, adult education, community psychology, and harm reduction. She is the author and co-author of scientific papers and book chapters on these topics. Recently, she won an FCT highly competitive FCT tender (CEEC IND) to develop the individual project 'Know-how to speak out: Education for and in professional activism' (2024-2030; 2023.06314.CEECIND) and became part of the Portuguese team of the Horizon Europe project SINCRONY - interSectIonal iNClusion in delibeRation and participatiON with Youth (2024-2027; Grant ID: 101132459). Ana's FCT-funded PhD (PD/BD/135472/2017, COVID/BD/152738/2022) was about professional activism (e.g., advocacy, social activism) in educational, social, and community intervention with people in situations of vulnerability. Before the PhD, she had a research scholarship in ADVENUS - Developing On-line Training Resources for Adult Refugees (2016-1-NO01-KA204-022090); and ReGap - Reducing the Educational Gap for Migrants and Refugees in EU Countries with Highly Relevant e-Learning Resources Offering Strong Social Belonging (2017-1-NO01-KA204-034182). Both projects aimed to create culturally and gender-sensitive educational resources for refugees, migrants, and educators. During and after the PhD she was a researcher in the project LIDA - Learning Inclusion in a Digital Age: to Belong and Find a Voice in a Changing Europe (2020-1-NO01-KA204076518), focused on learning inclusion and active citizenship, engaging people in poverty or social exclusion, and professionals. She was also involved in a study about the impact of NGDO's non-formal education practices for social transformation and in the writing/development of dissemination outputs of the project ClimActiC - Citizenship for Climate: Building Bridges between Citizenship and Science for Climate Adaptation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000071). All developed at CIIE, FPCEUP. Between 2008 and 2016, Ana worked at APDES - an NGO that implements action-research projects with communities and people in situations of vulnerability. At APDES, she was a member of the coordinating council, general coordinator of national and European action-research projects, outreach worker and representative of the organization in national and European networks.

2023 – PhD in Educational Sciences – Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal

Professional activism (advocacy); Political participation and political education; Activist learning and knowledge production; Educational, social and community intervention; professionals' practices and knowledge to work with people in situations of vulnerability; Social justice; Adult education; Community psychology; and Harm reduction