Biography

Inês Amaral is an Associate Professor with Habilitation in the Communication Section of the Department of Philosophy, Communication and Information (DFCI) at the Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra. She is the Coordinator of the PhD programme in Communication Sciences and Co-Coordinator of the PhD programme in Computational Media Design. She holds a PhD in Communication Sciences (specialisation in Interactive Media) from the University of Minho. She is an Integrated Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies (CES), University of Coimbra (Research Line A: Europe and the Global South: Heritages and Dialogues). She is a member of the research team at Observatório Masculinidades.pt, serves on the CES Ethics Committee, and is on the Editorial Board of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais. She is also a Collaborating Researcher at the Centre for Communication and Society Studies at the University of Minho and a member of the Advisory Board of GILM. Her research focuses on sociability in digital social networks; participation and social media; feminist media studies; masculinities, gender, and media; media and digital literacy; technologies and active ageing; audiences and media consumption in the digital age; and disinformation. She is the Principal Investigator of the project "(d)e-HATE - Exploring Cyber Hate: Online Racism Targeting Immigrant and Racialised Communities in Portugal" (2024.18170.PEX). She previously served as Principal Investigator of "MyGender - Mediated practices of young adults: promoting gender justice in and through mobile applications" (PTDC/COM-CSS/5947/2020), and as Co-Principal Investigator of "MediaTrust.Lab - Regional Media Laboratory for Civic Trust and Literacy" (PTDC/COM-JOR/3866/2020). She currently participates in the research teams of the projects "NEXTDIGIMEDIA - Artificial Intelligence in Digital Media in Spain: Effects and Roles" (PID2024-156034OB-C22), "ProTest - Protest as a Democracy Test: Protest Culture under Transformation and as a Transformative Power" (Horizon Europe, 101177963), "STORYline - Exploring youth citizenship through intergenerational approaches and digital narratives" (2023.11571.PEX), "YouNDigital - Youth, News and Digital Citizenship" (PTDC/COM-OUT/0243/2021), and "UnCoveR - Sexual violence in Portuguese media landscapes" (2022.03964.PTDC). She was a member of the research teams of several funded projects, including "Equal.STEAM - Integrated Programme for the Attraction and Retention of Girls and Women in Higher Education in Technological and Engineering Fields" (POCH); "Gender in pandemics of hate: social media, COVID-19 and women journalists" (FCT - ID 758936851); "DecoDeM - (De)Coding Masculinities: towards a better understanding of the role of the media in shaping perceptions of masculinities in Portugal" (PTDC/COM-CSS/31740/2017); VIOxMulheres19 - Online violence against women: preventing and combating misogyny and violence in digital contexts based on the COVID-19 pandemic experience (FCT Project no. 058 Gender Research4Covid-19, Principal Investigator from July 2021 to July 2022); SMaRT-EU: Social Media Resilience Toolkit (LC-01563446); "Opportunities and Challenges of Journalism in Open Environments" (CSO2016-80703-R); MIA: Media in Action (LC-00644630); CEDAR: Consortium on Emerging Directions in Audience Research (AH/M008681/1); Digital Rights: a password for the future (Fund for the Promotion of Consumer Rights); and EMEDUS. She was a Consultant to the project "(De)Othering: Deconstructing Risk and Otherness" (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029997) and served as FLUC Focal Point for the SUPERA Project (November 2021 - May 2022). She is a member of COST Action CA21107 - Work inequalities in later life redefined by digitalisation (Portugal Representative). Previously, she participated in COST Actions CA18230, CA17135, CA15122, IS1409, IS1401ELN, IS1402, FP1104, and ISO 906. She was an Invited Scientist Fellow at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid under the ENCAGE-CM project (S2015/HUM-3367) and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Cape Verde. She is a certified trainer accredited by the Ministry of Education, the Journalists' Union, and the Scientific and Pedagogical Council for Continuing Education. She is a member of the Portuguese team of the Global Media Monitoring Project, an associate member of ECREA, where she serves as Vice-Chair of the Temporary Working Group on Media and Intimacy, and SOPCOM, where she served as Deputy Coordinator of the Journalism and Society Working Group. She is a co-founder of the Portuguese Association for Distance Education and Training, a member of the Executive Committee of the Cyberjournalism Observatory, and a member of the Media, Information and Literacy Observatory and NIP-C@M. She is also a member of the Civic Tech Group of APDSI, which she co-coordinated from January 2018 to September 2021. Her most recent publications include articles in journals such as Journalism and Media, European Journal of Women's Studies, Social Media + Society, Social Sciences, International Journal of Communication, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Media Studies, European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, Media & Jornalismo, and Observatorio (OBS)*, as well as chapters in edited volumes including Religion, Gender, and Populism in the Mediterranean (Routledge, 2024), The Routledge Companion to Gender, Media and Violence (Routledge, 2023), Digital Ageism (Routledge, 2023), The Routledge Companion to Gender, Sexuality and Culture (Routledge, 2022), Digital Media (McGraw-Hill, 2021), The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society (SAGE, 2020), and The Future of Audiences (Palgrave, 2018).