Dalila Martins (D11F-7847-16BF)

Curriculum Vitae

Dalila Martins

Dalila Martins is currently pursuing a PhD in New Media at the University of Aveiro (2022–present), supported by a research scholarship for her thesis project: “Design Model for Optimal Engagement in Serious Narrative Games,” applied to the field of Mental Health (ref. 2022.14590.BD). She holds a Master’s degree in Multimedia Communication (2019–2021) from the University of Aveiro, Portugal and a Bachelor's degree in Secretarial and Business Communication (2015–2018) from the Águeda School of Technology and Management, a branch of the University of Aveiro, Portugal. She began her professional career in the field of Human Resources at Winning Scientific Technology (2018–2021), where she held various roles, including: HR support, Marketing support and Assisting with the preparation and submission of public tender proposals. However, her research journey started with her involvement in the FlavourGame project (ref. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031024) (2020–2021) during the second year of her Master’s degree. Her contributions included: Developing the game narrative and designing characters and co-authoring scientific publications. She later joined the LOCUS project (ref. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029228) (2021–2022) as a research grant holder, where she was responsible for: (i) Designing a game within the Second Life metaverse; (ii) Creating and implementing a dynamic communication strategy on social media; (iii) Producing multimedia documentary content about the space and its narratives; (iv) Planning and organizing project-related events; (v) Writing scientific papers, presenting at conferences, and drafting research reports. In addition to the PhD scholarship she currently works as a freelance Game Tester for Lionbridge Game Studios, where she: (i) Tests games on Xbox and PC platforms; (ii) Reports bugs and issues encountered during gameplay; (iii) Evaluates games in terms of gameplay and user experience (UX) and (iv) Receives platform training with AI tools. To date, she has published over ten indexed articles, participated in various academic and professional events (including organization roles), and conducted peer reviews. Her research interests are rooted in Communication Sciences and Technologies, with a focus on Serious Games, Digital Games, Game Design, User Experience, Psychology in Games, and the Metaverse.

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Dalila Martins

Citation names

Martins, Dalila

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: D11F-7847-16BF
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0898-9189

Email addresses

dalilamartins@ua.pt (Professional)

Telephones

Mobile phone

(+351) 916425925 (Personal)

Websites

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dalila_Martins (Scholar)

Knowledge fields

Social Sciences

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening	Peer-review
English	Upper intermediate (B2)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)
Portuguese (Mother tongue)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2022/09/23 - 2025/07/01 Ongoing	New Media (Doutoramento) Universidade de Aveiro DigiMedia - Digital Media and Interaction, Portugal
2025/03/28 Concluded	Introduction to Teaching Practice (for doctoral and postdoctoral students) (Outros) Major in Pedagogy Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2024/05/07 Concluded	Atlas.ti Introduction Workshop (Outros) Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2023/07/28 Concluded	Game Design: Art and Concepts Specialization (Outros) Major in Game Design California Institute of the Arts, United States
2022/11/24 Concluded	Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo 12 software (Outros) Universidade de Aveiro Associação para a Formação Profissional e Investigação, Portugal
2022/05/06 Concluded	Communicating Science: What for, who for and how (Outros) Major in Advanced Course in Scientific Research Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal	19
2021/04/10 - 2021/04/18 Concluded	Documentary Film Course (Outros) Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2019 - 2021 Concluded	Multimedia Communication (Mestrado) Major in Digital Audiovisual Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal "FlavourGame: Dramatic character design for serious games" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	16
2019/01/16 Concluded	Graphic Design 2018 \| Design 20+ Practical Projects (Outros) Udemy Inc, United States
2018/09/25 - 2018/10/23 Concluded	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop (Outros) Universidade de Aveiro Associação para a Formação Profissional e Investigação, Portugal	8.9 in 10
2015 - 2018 Concluded	Office Management and Business Communication (Licenciatura) Universidade de Aveiro Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda, Portugal	15

Affiliation

Science

	Category Host institution	Employer
2022/09/01 - Current	Researcher (Research)	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2021/07 - 2022/04	Researcher (Research)	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

Positions / Appointments

	Category Host institution	Employer
2018/03 - 2021/06	Human Resources Assistant	WINNING Scientific Technology, Portugal

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2022/09/01 - Current	Design Model for Optimal Engagement in Serious Narrative Games, applied to the field of Mental Health 2022.14590.BD PhD Student Fellow DigiMedia - Digital Media and Interaction, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing

Contract

	Designation	Funders
2021/07 - 2022/04	LOCUS - playfuL cOnneCted rUral territorieS - the Internet of Things in the intergenerational creative production of cultural georeferenced contents POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029228 Research Fellow DigiMedia - Digital Media and Interaction, Portugal Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2020/09 - 2021/06	FlavourGame - Participate and Change, Playing with Textures and Flavours POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031024 Master's student DigiMedia - Digital Media and Interaction, Portugal Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded

Outputs

Publications

Book chapter	Dalila Martins; Lídia Oliveira; Ana Carla Amaro. "Information and Communication Technologies and Communicational Approaches for the Dissemination, Preservation, Understanding, and Attractiveness of Cultural Heritage". 2023. Published • 10.1007/978-981-19-2397-5_2 Dalila Martins; Lídia Oliveira; Ana Carla Amaro. "The Role of Second Life Games in Promoting Cultural Heritage". In Information Technology and Systems. 2022. Published • 10.1007/978-3-030-96293-7_41 Dalila Martins; Leonardo Pereira; Ana Patrícia Oliveira; Nelson Zagalo. "Character Design: The Case of Characters in a Hybrid Serious Game Called FlavourGame". 183-194. Springer International Publishing, 2022. Published • 10.1007/978-3-030-89735-2_16 Dalila Martins; Lídia Oliveira; Ana Carla Amaro. "The Spread of Cultural Heritage in Second Life: Case Study Amiais". 535-542. Springer International Publishing, 2022. Published • 10.1007/978-3-031-04819-7_51
Conference abstract	Martins, Dalila; Nelson Zagalo; Oliveira, Ana Patrícia; Tavares, Hugo; Aguiar, Eva; Soares, Pedro; Santos, Inês. "Analysis of mainstream narrative video games according to game design criteria". Paper presented in Research Summit 2024, 2024. Published Martins, Dalila; Nelson Zagalo; Oliveira, Ana Patrícia. "Proposal of a communication model in serious games for maintaining the player’s attention and interest, applied to a scenario of digital games in mental health". Paper presented in Research Summit 2023, 2023. Published
Conference paper	Martins, Dalila; Zagalo, Nelson; Oliveira, Ana Patrícia. "From Entertainment to Mental Health Awareness: the “Debris” Case". Paper presented in 2024 IEEE Gaming, Entertainment, and Media Conference (GEM), Turin, 2024. Published • 10.1109/gem61861.2024.10585451 Dalila Martins; Ana Patrícia Oliveira; Nelson Zagalo. "Serious Games applied to cases of Depression and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". Paper presented in 18th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI 2023), 2023. Published • 10.23919/cisti58278.2023.10211677 Martins, Dalila; Nelson Zagalo; Oliveira, Ana Patrícia. "Motivation and flow experience as crucial factors in the completion of narrative games". Paper presented in Digital Games Research Association - DiGRA, Sevilha, 2023. Published Dalila Martins; Ana Patrícia Oliveira; Nelson Zagalo. "Peak-end rule in narrative videogames: analysis of players’ perceptions on social media about “The Last of Us Part II” and “God of War”". Paper presented in 18th Foundations of Digital Games (FDG), 2023. Published • 10.1145/3582437.3587195 Martins, Dalila; Oliveira, Lídia; Ana Carla Amaro. "Life in Second Life through the eyes of the residents". Paper presented in Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (ICIST), Madrid, 2022. Published • 10.23919/CISTI54924.2022.9819997 Dalila Martins; Lídia Oliveira; Ana Carla Amaro. "From co-design to the construction of a metaverse for the promotion of cultural heritage and tourism the case of Amiais". Paper presented in International Conference on Industry Science and Computer Sciences Innovation (iSCSi), Porto, 2022. Published • 10.1016/j.procs.2022.08.031 Dalila Martins; Pereira, Leonardo; Oliveira, Ana Patrícia; Nelson Zagalo. "O Processo de Design dos Personagens do Jogo de Tabuleiro FlavourGame". Paper presented in International Conference on Illustration and Animation at the Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave (CONFIA), Aveiro, 2021. Published
Journal article	Cunha, Maria; Martins, Dalila. "The Application of Action Research Methodology in the New Media: Systematic Literature Review". I SEVEN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION CONGRESS (2023): https://homepublishing.com.br/index.php/cadernodeanais/article/view/1141. Open access • Published Liliana Gonçalves; Martins, Dalila; Ana Carla Amaro; Lídia Oliveira. Corresponding author: Liliana Gonçalves. "Amiais in Second Life™: the use of metaverse environments to disseminate Cultural Heritage". Observatorio 16 3 (2022): https://obs.obercom.pt/index.php/obs/article/view/2215. Published • 10.15847/obsOBS16320222215
Thesis / Dissertation	"FlavourGame: design de personagens dramáticos para serious games". Master, Universidade de Aveiro, 2021. https://ria.ua.pt/handle/10773/32677.

Other

Research technique

Trends in Women's Digital Health Literacy: A Scoping Review Protocol. Co-Researcher. Bueno-Rocha, Jennifer; Matos, Jo; Martins, Dalila; Agudelo-Londoño, Sandra; Antunes, Maria João. 2025.
10.17605/OSF.IO/NGVS5 • Co-Researcher

Activities

Supervision

	Thesis Title Role	Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2024/12/01 - 2025/07/11	Imerse (Final Degree Project) Co-supervisor	Bachelor's Degree in Multimedia and Communication Technologies (Degree) Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

Event organisation

	Event name Type of event (Role)	Institution / Organization
2025/04/11 - 2025/04/11	Member of the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on WEB3 (2025/04/11) Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2023/06 - 2023/11	Conference Organisation: 13th International Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts (2023/11/28 - 2023/11/30) Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2022/04/26 - 2022/05/03	Organisation of the workshop "Promoting the Cultural Heritage of Rural Territories in Digital Metaverse Environments" as part of the LOCUS - playfuL cOnneCted rUral territorieS project. (2022/04/26 - 2022/05/03) Workshop (Member of the Organising Committee)	DigiMedia - Digital Media and Interaction, Portugal
2022/02/18 - 2022/02/18	Organisation of the 3rd LOCUS Seminar, part of the LOCUS project - playfuL cOnneCted rUral territorieS (2022/02/18 - 2022/02/18) Seminar (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2018/02/28 - 2018/02/28	Development of secretarial tasks and participation in the organisation and promotion of various activities as part of ESTGA Open Day 2018 (2018/02/28) Meeting (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade de Aveiro Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda, Portugal
2017/06/22 - 2017/06/23	Conference Organisation: 2nd International Conference on Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Developments (SLERD) (2017/06/22 - 2017/06/23) Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2017/02/22 - 2017/02/22	Development of secretarial tasks and participation in the organisation and promotion of various activities as part of ESTGA Open Day 2017 (2017/02/22) Meeting (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade de Aveiro Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda, Portugal
2016/06/08 - 2016/06/08	Organisation of the Congress: "VI Jornadas de Secretariado e Assessoria" (2016/06/08) Congress (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade de Aveiro Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda, Portugal

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2023/07/05 - 2023/07/07	Volunteer in the organisation of the event: Science 2023 - Meeting with Science and Technology in Portugal Meeting	Science 2023 - Meeting with Science and Technology in Portugal Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal Ciência Viva, Portugal Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2023/06/22 - 2023/06/22	Participation in the conference DiGRA (Digital Games Research Association) as Chair of the "Health Crisis" session Conference	Digital Games Research Association - DiGRA

Association member

	Society Organization name	Role
2023/05 - 2025/05	NEDD (Núcleo de Estudantes de Doutoramento do Digimedia)	Founder / Representative

Evaluation committee

	Activity description Role	Institution / Organization	Funding entity
2025/02/10 - 2025/02/10	Guest reviewer for the FDG'25 Conference Evaluator
2024/10/26 - 2024/10/26	Guest reviewer for the journal: Tourism and Hospitality Research (THR) Evaluator
2024/02/20 - 2024/03/05	Guest reviewer for the IEEE CTSoc Gaming, Entertainment and Media Conference Evaluator
2023/02 - 2023/02	Guest reviewer for the Journal of Cultural Heritage Evaluator

Mentoring / Tutoring

	Topic	Student name
2024/12/01 - 2025/04/13	Scientific Mentor in the curricular unit CHAI I, integrated into Master's in Medicine at the University of Aveiro	Omitted

Other jury / evaluation

	Activity description	Institution / Organization
2025/01/24 - 2025/01/24	Jury of the “Game Jam: Fab Games” event, promoted by the Associação Nacional de Professores de Informática (ANPRI)