Ana Cristina Martins has a PhD in Psychology (Social psychology specialization) from Ispa - Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida (2012), a Master's degree in Organizational Behaviour (1995), and a degree in Psychology from Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (1992). At the beginning of her professional activity as a psychologist, she held various positions in the field of Human Resources. Her professional experience as a lecture and researcher began at Instituto Português de Administração de Marketing in 1992, the same year she joined ISPA as an exclusive trainee assistant. Since 2013, she has been a full-time assistant professor at this institution. Over these 31 years, she has taught various subjects (Social Psychology, Psychology of Interpersonal Relations and Group Dynamics, Intergroup Relations, Psychology and Ethics, Environmental Psychology), supervised various internships and theses, and carried out intervention work in the community. Since 2020, she is the President of Pedagogical Council of Ispa - Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida. Her areas of interest and research are focused on social discrimination processes, particularly in the context of intimate partner violence. More recently, she has started to study discrimination against people with mental illness and the lived experience of higher education students with special educational needs. She is also very interested in psychotherapy and is completing her training as an existential psychotherapist at the Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicoterapia Existencial whose phenomenological approach informs her research practice.