Brussels Forum Session: Security South: Transatlantic Strategy in a Time of Crisis

Ana Santos Pinto is assistant professor in the Department of Political Studies and assistant vice-dean of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH). She is also executive director of the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI-NOVA), a member of the board of trustees of the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), and a member of the advisory council of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The NATO secretary general nominated her in 2023 to chair a group of independent experts delivering a report on the alliance's approach to its southern neighborhood.

Santos Pinto was Portugal’s secretary of state for national defense from 2018 to 2019. Before that, she worked as an associate researcher at Portugal’s National Defense Institute; a research consultant for the UN’s Alliance of Civilizations Project; an adviser for the international relations minister of national defense of Portugal’s 17th constitutional government; and a research assistant at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies.  

Santos Pinto’s main areas of research are identities in international politics, EU foreign and security policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. She holds a PhD in international relations from NOVA FSCH, a master’s degree in history of international relations from the Higher Institute of Labor and Business Sciences (ISCTE-IUL), and a degree in political science and international relations from NOVA FSCH.