Alexandra Pelúcia

Alexandra Pelúcia holds a PhD in the History of Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion (2007) from NOVA FSCH. She is an Assistant Professor of NOVA's History Department and teaches various curricular units on the History of Portuguese Expansion and the History of Asia. She also has international teaching experience at the Pablo de Olavide University (Spain) and the National University of Colombia.

She became a researcher at CHAM in 1995 and was a member of its board of directors between November 2004 and April 2018. She is the scientific coordinator of the EVE - Virtual Encyclopaedia of Portuguese Expansion.

Her scientific interests are focused on the Portuguese Expansion in Asia and the dynamics of the social and political behaviour of the nobiliary elites both in Portugal and in the context of the Empire. Within this scope, she directed the project ‘Na Privança d'El-Rei: Relações Interpessoais e Jogos de Facções em Torno de D. Manuel I' (In the Privation of El-Rei: Interpersonal Relations and Faction Games Around King Manuel I) funded by FCT (EXPL/EPH-HIS/1720/2013).

Among her publications are the books Martim Afonso de Sousa e a sua Linhagem. Trajectórias de uma Elite nos Reinados de D. João III e D. Sebastião (2009), Corsários e Piratas Portugueses. Aventureiros nos Mares da Ásia (2010) and Afonso de Albuquerque. Corte, Cruzada e Império (2016).