Researcher

Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education, Universidade de Coimbra

Largo D. Dinis (Antiga Farmácia Ex-HUC), Gab. 2.11.

Coimbra, Portugal

Phone number: +351 239 247 413

E-mail: Mclarabarata@fpce.uc.pt

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M. Clara Barata, Ed.D., is a Researcher at the Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education, University of Coimbra. In her work, she focuses on the evaluation of educational policy and practice, through the application of experimental, econometric, quantitative and mixed methods to the study of human development in context. At the University of Coimbra, she is the principal investigator of a randomized-controlled trial to assess the impact of the project Playgroups for Inclusion (Grupos Aprender, Brincar, Crescer), a new policy service targeting socially disadvantaged families with children aged 0-4 not participating in the currently available ECEC services. This project is financed through the European Commission. Prior to this project, she was a Marie Curie fellow at ISCTE-IUL focusing on the effects of family risk on the development of preschoolers (2012-2015); a postdoctoral researcher in the evaluation of a national educational policy for compulsory education for the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science (report and policy recommendations in Portuguese here) (2011-2012), and research coordinator for Un Buen Comienzo, a preschool professional development program in Santiago, Chile (2007-2011). She was also a Julius B. Richmond Fellow at the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, where she was trained on how to translate strong scientific knowledge, and use it to bear on policies and programs that support the well-being of children. She holds a master’s and doctoral degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a licenciatura in Clinical Child Psychology from the University of Lisbon.

Researcher and Assistant Professor

Phone number: + 351 217 903 201

E-mail: cecilia.rosario.aguiar@iscte.pt

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With an educational psychology background, Cecília Aguiar has both conducted and participated in research on ECEC quality and preschool children’s social experiences, targeting both children with and without disabilities. Cecília Aguiar has been awarded several grants, secured through competitive calls promoted by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, including two Scientific Career Development Fellowships awarded to her as the principal investigator of two projects: "Enhancing peer relationships: Preschool teachers' ideas and practices” and “Enhancing social participation of preschoolers with disabilities”. She has participated in projects commissioned by the Portuguese Ministry of Education to monitor curricular development and quality in preschool education. Currently, Cecília Aguiar is part of a team of external experts that support schools involved in TEIP3, the Educational Territories for Priority Intervention Program. Previously involved in teacher training, mainly at the graduate level, she presently coordinates the undergraduate program in Psychology at ISCTE-IUL, where she teaches Educational Psychology. 

Researcher

E-mail: jcadima@fpce.up.pt

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Joana Cadima, Ph.D. (Psychology) is a researcher at the Center of Psychology of the University of Porto. Her research interests include teacher-child interactions and social relationships as contexts for child development in early childhood, child adjustment to school transitions, sociocultural risk and the use of observational methods. She has participated in several research projects on early childhood education, focusing on preschool and primary school quality. She was also involved in projects commissioned by the Portuguese Ministry of Education to monitor curricular development and quality in preschool education. Currently, she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for a research project on the ways in which teacher-child interactions are predictive of children’s self-regulation in preschool.