Maria Cristina Campos de Sousa Faria, is a psychologist, and works as Coordinating Professor of the Department of Education and Social Sciences and Behavior, of the scientific area of Psychology, of the Higher School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Beja, on a full-time basis with exclusivity. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, in the area of specialization in Clinical Psychology (1986) with specialization Seminar work on "BEHAVIORS OF DEALING WITH STATES OF TENSION"; Master in Education Sciences, in the area of specialization in Educational Psychology (1993), with a dissertation on the topic: “INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION – their relationship with SELF-CONCEPT, TEMPERAMENT, SOCIAL SUPPORT AND SUCCESS.”; and PhD in Psychology, in the area of specialization in Health Psychology (2000), with a Thesis on the theme “COMMUNICATION AND WELL-BEING AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE 21ST CENTURY, KNOWING THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS AND ORIENTING TOWARDS HEALTH”. The academic degrees were obtained at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra and in all of them, Professor Adriano Supardo Vaz Serra, Full Professor of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, was his advisor. On September 8, 2017, she took Public Exams at the Polytechnic Institute of Beja for the category of Coordinating Professor in Psychology, in the specialization area of Health Psychology, with the Lesson on the theme “PSYCHOLOGY IN THE INTERFACE WITH HEALTH PROMOTION AND THE WELL-BEING”, from then on performing the role of Coordinating Professor at that institution. On July 6, 2018, she completed a Post-Doctorate in Psychology, at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of the University of Algarve, supervised by Prof. Doctor Saul Neves de Jesus, Full Professor at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, of the University of Algarve , having presented a Post-Doctoral Report, with the title “PROMOTION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS FOR THE SOCIO-PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS”. She is a Member of Portuguese Association of Health Psychology since 2005. She is a Member of the Order of Portuguese Psychologists (OPP) since 2010, and Specialist in Educational Psychology (17/07/2016), Clinical and Health Psychology (25/07/2016) and Psychogerontology (29/09/2019), by the OPP. She has developed research, scientific events, publications (books, chapters, national and international articles) and supervised dissertations and coordinated master's degrees in Psychology, Psychogerontology, Social and Community Gerontology, Education, Preschool Education, Early Childhood Education, Community Development and Entrepreneurship. She is an Integrated Member of the Research Center for Tourism (CinTurs) at the University of Algarve (2020 /…). And Collaborating Member of the Life Quality Research Center (CIEQV) (2024/...).