Maria is a collaborating researcher at the Centre for the History of Society and Culture at the University of Coimbra, where she is completing postgraduate research in Early Modern History, and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Her research interests span social and economic history, local history and family history.

​

Since 2018 she has worked as an independent professional genealogist, researching Portuguese family histories for clients all around the world. Many are descendants of emigrants who left a village more than a century ago and want to know where their story began.

History has fascinated Maria for as long as she can remember. For her, genealogy is where history stops being something found only in books and archives and becomes personal, a bridge between the people living today and the lives recorded in old registers. That conviction has shaped both her professional and her academic path.

​

Every family history she researches is held to the same standards as her academic work. Each link between generations must be supported by the records, conflicting evidence is examined and conclusions go only as far as the sources allow. The result is a family history her clients can trust.