Joana Carvalho

Joana Carvalho is an assistant professor (with Habilitation) of Psychology, director of the Sexual Behavior and Health Lab (SexBeHealth) at the University of Aveiro, and an integrated researcher at the William James Center for Research. Carvalho develops research in the field of human sexuality, ranging from topics related to male and female sexual (dys)function and sexual violence (with a focus on sexual crimes) to sexual compulsivity and the promotion of sexuality education and sexual rights, being an expert member of the National Health in Schools Program task force - Sexuality Education, Rights and Inclusion (ESDI) - from the Directorate-General of Health, Ministry of Health, in Portugal. Carvalho addresses her research topics with quantitative and qualitative methodologies and is particularly interested in laboratory sexuality research, targeting the understanding of attentional and emotional processes underpinning human sexual response. Laboratory techniques include eye tracking, psychophysiology (e.g., penile plethysmography, vaginal photoplethysmography), and behavior tasks. In terms of applied research, Carvalho is working on a series of intervention projects, including a CBT randomized clinical trial (RCT) for individuals with a sexual interest in children (PREVENT IT), a CBT-Mindfulness RCT for men with prostate cancer (E-mergir), a CBT-Mindfulness RCT for individuals with sexual dysfunction (FULLSENSE), three sexual violence prevention CBT-Bystander programs (CARE, SUN, MOON; for pre-school, school and college students, respectively), and one psychoeducational program aimed at preventing sexual and gender-based violence prompted by AI-generated sexual contents (AmIaware?). Carvalho has been credited in clinical psychology, forensic psychology, and sexology by the Portuguese Board of Psychologists. She is the president of the Portuguese Society of Clinical Sexology, Co-chair of the Scientific Review Committee in Sexual Medicine (International Society of Sexual Medicine), and senior member of the European Guidelines in Male Sexual and Reproductive Health (European Association of Urology), among other positions in European and international organizations. Currently, Carvalho is co-leading European and National consortiums/projects funded by the European Commission/Horizon programs or the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology; she supervises research teams (including Ph.D., Post Doc, and international students) and works as an associate editor with the Sexual Medicine Reviews, and as an editorial board member with the International Journal of Sexual Health. Carvalho has been awarded the Michael A. Perelman Education & Research Foundation (NY) award, being one of the most impactful scientists in 2023, as selected by the Stanford University and Elsevier Scopus.