Sandra Ornelas is a psychologist and member of OPP (Professional license no. 23917) – the Portuguese psychologists’ professional association. In 2016, she obtained her MSc in Community Psychology and Child Protection by the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), in which she carried out an internship at the Cascais’ Child Protection Agency and developed a thesis on the moderating role of individual and context variables in the relationship between the social support of residential care professionals and the psychological adjustment and well-being of youth in care.

From her professional career it is worth highlighting her experiences in the context of child/youth residential care and her collaboration in projects focused on accidents prevention (at home, in traffic, etc.) and the promotion of health and safety behaviors. For 3 years, Sandra was part of a research team at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon, as a Research Fellowship, in a R&D project funded by FCT and ERDF focused on the organizational and social climate and its effects on the quality of relationships between professionals and youth in residential care. She has also collaborated in an impact evaluation study of an intervention project in school context funded by POISE, Portugal 2020, and the European Union. She is co- author of several national and international publications, and Conferences communications.

In May 2022, she joined the ProChild CoLAB team for the development of projects in the child protection field.