About me

I hold a bachelor’s degree in biology, with a specialty in Terrestrial Environmental Biology, and a Master’s degree in Conservation Biology from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (FCUL). My master’s research, supervised by Prof. Luís Vicente, focused on the reproductive behaviour of captive birds of prey in a falconry, where I was later invited to work as a biologist. Simultaneously, I was also volunteering to work at the Lisbon Zoo, gaining hands-on experience working with animals.

After completing my master’s thesis, I started to work with Dr. Susana Varela (currently Prof. Susana Varela) on research about coloniality in birds, taking courses in phylogeny and phylogeography. My interest then shifted to “mate-choice copying”, a social learning behaviour where animals adjust their mating behaviour after observing the mate-choice of others. I initiated my PhD research, initially self-funded, under the supervision of Prof. Luís Vicente, Dr. Susana Varela, and by Prof. Ingo Schlupp (University of Oklahoma, USA).

As part of this PhD I spent six months at Professor’s Schlupp lab and collaborated on a project about species distribution in islands lead by Prof. Paulo Borges, where I learned C programming and did computer simulations of phylogenetic trees. I also spent for one month in Zürich working with Prof. Hanna Kokko. In 2017, I worked with Dr. Luís Borda de Água on Bayesian modelling, gaining experience with Bayesian programming languages such as JAGS, BUGS and STAN. Later, in 2019, I collaborated with Dr. Constança Carvalho, on research exploring the contributions of non-human primate studies to understanding Major Depressive Disorder in humans.

In 2017, I was awarded a BIODIV Doctoral Programme scholarship (PD/BD/128349/2017) from the FCT, requiring me to formally restart my PhD while continuing my previous research. Following Prof. Luís Vicente’s retirement, the new PhD supervision was taken over by Dr. Susana Varela, Prof. Margarida Matos and Prof. Ingo Schlupp. I worked closely with my supervisors and Prof. Hanna Kokko and Prof. Mauro Santos to investigate ecological and evolutionary implications of mate-choice copying.

During my PhD, I also volunteered in Prof. Rui Oliveira’s lab, assisting Dr. Susana Varela with artificial selection experiments in zebrafish related to social affinity and social cognition. My plan was to gain experience and conduct empirical research at Prof. Schlupp’s lab in Oklahoma, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to adapt my project into a theoretical study.

I successfully defended my PhD in April 20th, 2023, with Distinction and Honours, and my PhD thesis resulted in the publication of four papers. I continue to collaborate on various projects while seeking the next step in my career. My previous work with Dr. Luís Borda de Água and Dr. Constança Carvalho resulted in two additional publications. I am currently collaborating with Dr. Luís Borda de Água on another project to model road mortality hotspots, and with Prof. Susana Varela on zebrafish artificial selection for social behaviour.

In June 2025 I started as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Science and Environment under the guidance of Prof. David Gonçalves to work with the effect of the gut microbiota on the development of social behaviour in fish. This project is under the Funding Scheme of Macao for Science and Technology R&D Talent from the Macao's Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT).