UC Women in Science: Marcela Matos
Marcela Matos, a researcher at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra, is the December guest of 'UC Women in Science'.
"I have always been very interested in understanding others better, what goes on in other people's minds and also in my own," says Marcela Matos, a researcher at the Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive-Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC) of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra (FPCEUC).
Her family partly inspired her passion for psychology. "I have a very close aunt, a psychologist, who studied at FPCEUC. Her childhood memories include "the halls of this faculty" and "the parades of Queima das Fitas".
Marcela Matos works in clinical practice and research, two paths that intertwine and complement each other. In her doctoral thesis, she studied the feeling of shame, which led her to discover the importance of compassion in combating the potential effects of embarrassing experiences.
Compassion has been at the heart of her work ever since. Marcela Matos saw the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to study "the extent to which compassion and our connection to others can protect us on a global scale from the negative impact that COVID can have on our lives". The research quickly became international, involving researchers from over 20 countries. At a national level, she runs a project in schools to help young people learn to manage their emotions and practice compassion.
Looking ahead, Marcela Matos' "scientific mind" plans to focus on artificial intelligence, a technology she believes could help improve our mental well-being.
English subtitles available soon
Marcela Matos is a clinical psychologist, an auxiliary researcher at the Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC) and professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Coimbra (UC),
Marcela Matos is a clinical psychologist, an auxiliary researcher at the Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive-Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC) and professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra, where she develops intensive research activity in several national and international projects in the areas of evolutionary clinical psychology, compassion-focused interventions and contextual behavioural approaches and interventions.
Her current research focuses on the development, implementation, and testing of compassion-based psychological interventions to promote mental and biophysiological health and well-being in diverse populations (e.g., the general population, teachers, etc) and the effects of these interventions on psychophysiological and epigenetic correlates of well-being, prosociality, and stress. She recently led a multinational research project on the protective effects of compassion in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic across 23 countries.
She has published more than 90 scientific articles and book chapters on compassion, shame, self-criticism, emotional regulation, psychopathology and well-being in various clinical and non-clinical populations. She has authored more than 190 scientific papers presented at international scientific events. Marcela Matos is a founding and executive board member of the Global Compassion Coalition and Chair of its scientific committee, an affiliate member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation UK, and president of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Association for Mindfulness.