Augusta Gaspar

Augusta Gaspar is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences of the Portuguese Catholic University, with a PhD in Facial Behavior from NOVA University Lisbon. Her research spans evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and empathy, focusing on facial expressions, prosocial behavior, and nonverbal communication.

• Education: PhD, Facial Behavior in Pan and Homo (2001), NOVA University Lisbon

Her work contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in education and social well-being. Key projects include:

• ENGAGED (2025–2027): Political engagement in European youth
• NHNAI (2022–2025): Intersections of neurosciences and AI
• Colour and Emotion - Phase 2 (2021–2025): Color-emotion associations

Her research interests include empathy development across lifespan, virtual reality interventions for mental health, and ethical dilemmas in animal research. She has presented at conferences like the Swiss Psychological Society (2022) and contributed to edited books on human symbolic evolution.

She is a member of the National Forum of Psychology (Order of Portuguese Psychologists, 2020–present) and collaborates internationally on topics like environmental psychology and AI ethics. Her scientific production includes 63 publications, with an h-index of 193 (Scopus).