She graduated from the Lisbon Nova University and obtained a PhD in History from the University of Évora (1997), where she currently works as a professor and is head of the History Department. She is also a member of the CIDEHUS (Interdisciplinary Centre of History, Cultures and Societies), and directs the Executive and Follow-up Commission of the Master's Degree in Iberian South and Mediterranean and Modern History. Her research interests focused on Social History and Government and Political Communication of the Portuguese Colonial Empire during modern times, as well as on the nobility of the Portuguese Empire. She was part of numerous research projects - both Portuguese and international - financed by both the government of Portugal, by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, and by European organizations.

Among the latter, the most notable are entitled Empire and Human Rights: Colonization and Sovereignty in a global Iberian Empire (1580-1640), which ended in 2018, or which she is currently directing: Rebellion and resistance in the Iberian Empires, 16th-19th centuries, (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017), effective until 2022. Author of numerous articles and book chapters, she coordinated various volumes, including: Centros Periféricos de Poder na Europa do Sul (Séculos XII-XVIII) (together with Fátima Farrica and Herminia Vasconcelos Vilar); and Portugal na Monarquia Hispânica. Dinâmicas de integração e conflito (Lisbon, 2013) with Pedro Cardim and Leonor Freire Costa.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3784-5528