Prof. Dr. Teresa Freire

Teresa Freire is Associate Professor with Habilitation at the School of Psychology, University of Minho (Braga, Portugal). She leads the Laboratory on Development and Psychopathology at the Psychological Research Centre and coordinates the Research Group on Positive Development and Optimal Functioning. Her work focuses on adolescence and youth, mental health, well-being, and leisure as a developmental and ecological context.

She graduated in Psychology from the University of Porto and holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Minho on leisure and adolescent development. Her academic career integrates research, higher education, and community-based intervention at national and international levels. She has authored more than 100 international publications, including her Springer book Positive Leisure Science: From Subjective Experience to Social Contexts, and serves on editorial boards of scientific journals. She was a founding member of the IDEA–UMinho Centre, promoting innovation and active teaching and learning in higher education.

She has been Principal Investigator of several preventive and developmental projects, including the national projects “Growing-up with Leisure” and “Project To Be+(plus),” aimed at promoting positive development and well-being across adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Within the World Leisure Organization (WLO), she serves as Chair of the Special Interest Group on “Leisure and Well-Being” and coordinated the international project “Leisure and Well-Being Across Countries in the Era of COVID-19: Trends and Applications,” awarded by the WLO Strategic Priorities Grant.

Her work advances the integration of research, policy, and practice to promote youth leisure as a strategic resource for sustainable human development.