Paula Mena Matos is Associate Professor at the University of Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. From 2023, she is Director of the Center for Psychology at University of Porto, a FCT funded R&D unit, that hosts 74 integrated researchers. Previously, she led the Research Group on Relationships, Change Processes, and Wellbeing, and served as CPUP’s Directive Board member for the last 13 years. She is currently Vice-president of the International Academy of Family Psychology. Her research interests focus on the topics of relationship dynamics, emotion regulation and adaptation/development across different domains (e.g., family, family-work reconciliation, transition to adulthood, residential care, psycho-oncology, psychotherapy) and developmental stages (from childhood to adulthood). Her research is mainly driven by attachment, systemic, and ecological theoretical frameworks. She has experience in coordinating funded research projects and participated in several national and international projects covering issues such as, adolescents' and young adults' mental health and development (YAGISS; Attachment; CareME; Resil(SC)ience; Escola com REDE), parental wellbeing and child development & protection (Respubliba; (Im)Balance; CopaGloba) and individual and family adaptation to cancer & genetic risk (TOGETHER; Play-the-Odds). She is also committed to the development and testing of psychological intervention programs with vulnerable populations. More recently, she has been devoting attention to developing research relevant to society and policy. Her publications cover a broad spectrum of Psychology domains. She teaches in the fields of clinical, health, family and developmental psychology, and has been dedicating much effort in mentoring and supervising Master and PHD students. She has experience as a clinical psychologist and has been supervising clinical psychology trainees over the last 30 years.