/about

Hi! Are you curious about media, culture and technology? So am I. Here’s what I’ve been working on.

I’m currently an Assistant Professor in Digital Media at NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH), where I also serve as the Coordinator of iNOVA Media Lab and of the Social Observatory for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Data (OSIADD). I’m also an integrated researcher at the NOVA Institute of Communication (ICNOVA). These roles allow me to explore the intersection between media innovation, digital cultures and technology, while mentoring and collaborating with an incredible community of students and researchers.

I hold a PhD and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil), with part of my doctoral research completed at the University of Lisbon. My academic background also includes a degree in Media & Journalism.

Beyond ICNOVA, iNOVA Media Lab and OSIADD, I’m actively involved in several other research networks and labs: such as the Media Innovation Observatory (Obi.Media), the Trends and Culture Management Lab at the University of Lisbon, and the Nephi-Jor – Núcleo de Estudos e Produção Hipermídia Aplicados ao Jornalismo (Brazil). Until recently, I was also a post-doctoral researcher on the FCT-funded project MyGender – Mediated Young Adults’ Practices: Advancing Gender Justice in and Across Mobile Apps, based at the University of Coimbra.

In parallel to my academic work, I bring over a decade of experience in the creative industries. In 2024, I published a book in collaboration with Ana Cecília B. Nunes called “Innovation in the Creative Industries: Trends and Labs for Reinventing Media and Business” (in Portuguese, more here). I’ve worked as a lifestyle columnist, content curator and fashion editor, contributing to magazines, TV shows, cultural events, and digital platforms. I’ve also developed digital communication strategies and content for Brazilian fashion and lifestyle brands.

Passionate about teaching and knowledge sharing, I’ve lectured in postgraduate and MBA programs in Brazil, since 2014, and Portugal, since 2020, covering topics such as online journalism, digital methods, digital culture and communication, trend research, social media strategy, and digital content production.

/research

I still remember how I liked it when the teacher asked for a task we should do with research in primary school. My house has always had lots of books and I always liked to have a reason to take the heavy ones from the Delta Larousse collection from the bookshelf. Asking questions and researching was something I always loved to do. The journalist’s work, in some way, is eternal research, with more practical objectives and very short deadlines, but the structures are very similar. During my undergraduate course in journalism, I realized that my interest in scientific research had arisen. Still, I worked in a newspaper, magazine, website, radio… I tried all the available possibilities but had more opportunities in the academic environment. I like analysis, asking questions and trying to answer them; I like method and rigour. Maybe that’s why I always tried to trace a middle path, betting on areas that are not so traditional in communication. In the monograph (UFN) and the master’s dissertation (UFSC), I felt that fashion and its movements deserved studies that understood their perspectives. Then, I brought together the context of the social media boom and plunged into this world: here and here.

I am interested in fashion journalism and occasionally publish articles on the topic here, here and here. Then, I got to know the academic field of Trend Studies and immediately wanted to think about journalism from and through this perspective. I did a period of studies at the University of Lisbon and developed a methodology aimed at researching trends for innovation journalism. Now, I have been venturing into Digital Methods. Once again, I have appropriated the wealth of ideas in this field to think about journalism and its uses on social platforms. I’ve already written a little bit about it here and here. Currently, I’m developing along with other researchers different projects, Stick & Flow: A Critical Framework for Investigating Bot Engagement on Social Media, at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS/Germåany), Attacks on the press in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic – a study of Jair Bolsonaro’s profiles on Social Media, at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) and MyGender – Mediated young adults’ practices: advancing gender justice in and across mobile apps, funded by FCT at The Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Coimbra.

/fashion journalism

Journalism has always been one of my main interests. Not infrequently, I heard from friends, family, and even teachers that fashion journalism was a “less important” version to which to dedicate myself. I had the chance to learn a lot about many different areas while working with coverage of fashion weeks and the creative work of dozens of designers. To consider fashion only as clothes is a huge mistake. It’s like thinking that journalism is just a printed newspaper. And it was precisely on this idea that I built part of my Master’s thesis in which I observed the forms of Journalism and Fashion: both have periodicity, they are necessarily current and need to be disseminated, characteristics delimited by Otto Groth for the science of newspapers.

/trend analysis

Researching trends is one of the most exciting ways never to get bored. More than that, it is a way to make life more interesting because the researcher’s main job is to observe the trends. Then, to systematise. These two characteristics have always been with me. During my PhD, I developed a framework to identify specific trends for journalism. Read the thesis here (in Portuguese) and the report here.

/design

As a journalist, I am a reasonable designer. With all due respect to professional designers, I learned much from journalism about how to think about information clearly and aesthetically pleasingly. So I have a lot of varied creations, and it’s one of my favourite parts of creating.