Ricardo Pinto

Ricardo Pinto serves as an Assistant Professor at University Lusófona's University Center of Porto within the Faculty of Psychology and Education. He concurrently functions as a clinical psychologist at the institution's Porto Center, providing psychological support to students and the wider community, and is an active member of the Hei-Lab Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab.

His academic credentials include a Licenciatura (Bachelor's degree) in Health Psychology and a PhD in Health Psychology from the University of Minho, completed in 2013 following FCT-funded research on adverse childhood experiences' long-term psychological impacts.

Dr. Pinto's research program centers on trauma psychology across the lifespan, with particular emphasis on adverse childhood experiences, resilience mechanisms, and virtual reality applications for trauma exposure therapy. Employing longitudinal methodologies, he investigates differential susceptibility theory to identify risk/protective factors in youth, aiming to develop personalized interventions for vulnerable populations. His work bridges clinical practice with empirical research to mitigate trauma's long-term consequences.

Analysis of his 2019-2025 publications reveals consistent focus on trauma sequelae in Portuguese adolescent samples, with emerging themes including virtual reality simulations for stress response assessment, pandemic-related grief impacts, and dissociation as a mediator in poly-victimization contexts. His work demonstrates methodological rigor through longitudinal designs and contributes significantly to culturally specific trauma intervention frameworks.

Through the Hei-Lab, Dr. Pinto advances interdisciplinary research integrating digital technologies with psychological science to enhance human-environment interaction studies and develop innovative assessment tools for trauma-informed care.