Silvana Martins has a PhD in Child Studies, specializing in Developmental Psychology and Education, from the University of Minho (2019). She also has a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, Systemic, Health, and Family from the University of Coimbra (2010).

Since 2015, she has been dedicating part of her work to psychoeducational parenting support programs, collaborating in the translation and cultural adaptation of programs such as “Growing Happy in Family,” “Learning Together, Growing in Family” (funded by La Caixa), and “Living Adolescence in Family.” She has also been involved in the supervision and evaluation of the implementation of these programs in community institutions (e.g. childcare centers and schools).

She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, at the School of Nursing at the University of Minho, where she worked as a science manager and collaborated on various projects. One of these projects was the Healthy Children 2021, funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as part of the Academies of Knowledge, which aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program promoting healthy lifestyles in the socioemotional, social, and cognitive development, as well as eating habits, sleep, and physical activity in children aged 12 to 42 months.

Her research interests focus on positive parenting, child and family development and health, and the development of professional practices in family support.