Dalila Pinto Coelho

Dalila Pinto Coelho is a Researcher at the Centre for Research and Intervention in Education (CIIE), Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal. She is actively involved in national and international research on global education, decolonizing higher education, antiracist pedagogy, and sustainable development. She leads multiple funded projects and collaborates with academic networks across Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

• PhD in Educational Sciences, University of Porto (2019)
• 5-year degree in Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra (2004)
• Specialized training in supervision and evaluation in education, University of Aveiro (2013)

Her research focuses on education for socially just futures, particularly through two interconnected strands: sustainable development and global education; and postcolonial, decolonial, and antiracist issues in education and international development. She examines the role of higher education in advancing the 2030 Agenda, antiracist teacher training, and transformative learning.

The recent publications and projects reflect a strong trend toward critical, decolonial, and transformative approaches in global and development education. Her work emphasizes epistemic justice, policy-practice gaps, and civil society-academia collaboration, often through international comparative studies and multilingual research synthesis.

• Four FCT contracts awarded
• CEEC contract (2024–2030)
• Member, COST Action on Decolonising Development (2020–2024)
• Expert contributor for multiple international editions of Global Education Digest

She supervises postgraduate researchers in Europe and East Africa and is a member of international teams, including UCL’s Academic Network on Global Education and Sinergias, a community of practice bridging civil society and academia. She serves on the editorial board of the journal Sinergias and contributes extensively as a reviewer and editor. She has led evaluations of Portugal’s National Strategy for Development Education and is a member of the European Commission’s multistakeholder group on Development Education and Awareness Raising.

Dalila integrates CIIE’s Community of Practice on Participation, Communities, and Political Education and contributes to long-term collaborations focused on knowledge democratization and transformative education.