Leonor Pereira da Costa is an Assistant Professor at Lusófona University, and an integrated member of the HEI-Lab (Digital Human-environment Research Lab) R&D unit, in the Laboratory Behavior and Social Change in Context Lab (BeSCC Lab). She is the PI of the project "Status Fit: Multi-level Mapping of Children's Vulnerability to Social Class-Based Discrimination", funded by "la Caixa" Foundation (FP23-1B003) and of the project "Fighting Prejudice: Prejudice reduction through indirect intergroup contact in virtual settings", funded by Instituto Lusófono de Investigação e Desenvolvimento (Peer reviewed Fazer+ Program; ILIND/F+/EI/03/2020). She also is team member of the project "WeARTolerance: Using an arts-based program to reduce mental health-related stigma in young people", funded by "la Caixa" Foundation (LCF/PR/SR22/52570002) and collaborated in the implementation of a pedagogical project aimed at students' involvement in research, which was awarded with the distinction of Good Practices of Research in Teaching, by ILIND (2020). She holds a PhD in Psychology from CIS-IUL of ISCTE (2020), with a thesis titled "Navigating social class in childhood: Development of Intergroup relations and Self-Categorization". Completed her degree in Psychology in University of Porto (2006) and her master's degree in Data Mining and Data Analysis at ISCTE (2010). She was an Applied Research Assistant at the Research Center of Public Opinion of the Catholic University of Portugal (2006-2015), where she coordinated and collaborated in numerous research projects (e.g., EpireumaPT; International Social Survey Program; National Epidemiological Study of Psychiatric Morbidity). Her research focuses on intergroup relations and behaviors of social inclusion and exclusion, and how digital environments can be used towards a more inclusive society. Given her strong background in research methodology and data analysis, she is involved in research in other domains working closely with researchers from different fields of research. Leonor Costa has been collaborating in several R&D projects funded by FCT, such as "The social development of Human Values in Childhood and Adolescence" (PTDC/SOC-SOC/30635/2017) and "Animals in Disasters: Liminal Becomings, reframing human-animal relations in natural disasters" (CEECIND/02719/2017), and in Erasmus + Projects such as "ALERRT: Autism on the Line! Educating first Responders on how to Recognise and Treat Individuals with autism". She also has helped organize Summer Schools for training young researchers ("Verão com Ciência" initiative of the FCT).
