I completed my PhD in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Sciences fifteen years ago, with research conducted at the University of Minho (Portugal) and the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), establishing an early international profile. Following my doctoral training, I held research and academic positions across different career stages, including Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury, postdoctoral researcher, Invited Assistant Professor, and Assistant Researcher at the University of Minho. Since 2021, I have been serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of Minho, consolidating my independent research trajectory. My research has been consistently disseminated at both scientific and societal levels. I have published over 50 articles in high-impact, peer-reviewed international journals and delivered more than 100 contributions at national and international conferences, including oral presentations, invited talks, and posters across Europe, Oceania, and North America. I have also actively engaged in science communication through television, radio, and national media outlets, contributing to the public dissemination of psychological science and strengthening the connection between research and society. I have secured competitive research funding as Principal Investigator (PI), including one international project funded by the Marsden Fund (New Zealand) and two national projects funded by FCT and Bial. In addition, I have contributed as a team member to two other competitively funded FCT projects, reinforcing my integration in collaborative research networks. In 2014, I founded the Research Group in Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Minho (the first of its kind in Portugal), demonstrating early scientific independence and leadership. The group has grown into a structured and active research team, currently comprising approximately twenty researchers, including PhD and Master’s students, research assistants, and undergraduate collaborators, whom I supervise and mentor on a regular basis. My research programme lies at the intersection of evolutionary psychology and cognitive science, with a focus on interpersonal relationships, attractiveness, attentional and perceptual processes, temporal cognition, and mindfulness. I adopt an integrative and multidisciplinary approach, combining experimental, behavioural, and applied methodologies, including advanced methodologies such as eye-tracking to capture these processes in real time, to address fundamental and socially relevant questions. My work has contributed to advancing the understanding of how evolutionary mechanisms shape cognitive and perceptual processes in interpersonal contexts, particularly in the domains of attraction and social behaviour. In addition to my research activities, I currently serve in key academic and leadership roles, including Coordinator of the Research Line in Evolution and Decision-Making, Director of the Master’s in Human Cognition, and President of the Portuguese Association of Experimental Psychology, where I actively contribute to shaping research, training, and scientific dissemination at the national level. My current and future research aims to further integrate experimental, neuroscientific, and applied approaches to better understand human behaviour in complex, real-world contexts.