Alexandra Pelúcia holds a PhD in History of Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion (2007) from the School of Social and Human Sciences of the NOVA University of Lisbon. She is an Associate Professor in the History Department of the same institution, teaching curricular units in the areas of History of Portuguese Expansion and History of Asia. She also has international teaching experience at the Pablo de Olavide University (Spain) and the National University of Colombia. She became a researcher at CHAM in 1995 and was a member of its board of directors between November 2004 and April 2018. Her scientific interests focus on Portuguese expansion in Asia and the dynamics of the social and political behaviour of the nobiliary elites, both in Portugal and in its Empire. In this context, she directed the project "In the King's Privacy: Interpersonal Relations and Dynamics of Factions Around Manuel I", funded by FCT (EXPL/EPH-HIS/1720/2013). Among her publications are the books Martim Afonso de Sousa e a sua Linhagem. Trajectórias de uma Elite nos Reinados de D. João III e D. Sebastião (2009), Corsários e Piratas Portugueses. Aventureiros nos Mares da Ásia (2010) and Afonso de Albuquerque. Corte, Cruzada e Império (2016).