Ana Paula Guimarães

Ana Paula Guimarães is an Associate Professor in the Portuguese Studies Department at NOVA University Lisbon's Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, where she has coordinated academic disciplines since 1979. She concurrently serves as President of the Instituto de Estudos de Literatura Tradicional (IELT), an FCT-classified 'Excellent' research institute (2003, 2008) under her leadership, focusing on traditional literature and cultural heritage preservation.

Her research expertise centers on Oral Studies and Portuguese Literature, with significant contributions to Folklore, Traditional Medicine, and Ethnography. She investigates interdisciplinary connections between literature, art, mathematics, and healing practices, examining folk narratives, proverbs, traditional recipes, and Lisbon's cultural landscapes. Her work reveals how oral traditions encode cultural memory and resistance, particularly through studies of zootherapy ('Artes de cura') and secret knowledge in popular medicine archives.

The IELT's Excellence classifications reflect institutional impact under her presidency, though no individual scientific awards are documented. She maintains an active supervisory role for master's and PhD students while directing long-term research on Portuguese intangible heritage. Her career demonstrates sustained commitment to documenting vanishing cultural practices through rigorous ethnographic and literary analysis.