Cristiana Vale Pires is a Postdoctoral Integrated Researcher collaborating at Faculdade de Educação e Psicologia da Universidade Católica Portuguesa. She has a wide experience in collaborating and coordinating community-based projects in the drugs field, sex work and HIV prevention, gender mainstreaming and prevention of gender-based violence (co-funded by the Portuguese Government and private organizations). She coordinated several action-research European projects in the field of drugs and gender (co-funded by the European Commission). She also collaborated as a researcher in 2 projects financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). She led the design of innovative community based projects in Portugal, such as Safe!n (creation of a Safer Nightlife label in Portugal); AllCool (community-based intervention tarhetting heavy episodic drinkers); Sexism Free Night (collaboration to promote safer and more egalitarian nightlife environment); Ponto Lilás (collaborative outreach intervention to prevent sexual violence in large scale festivals) and chemsex campaign (harm reduction collaborative network targeting LGBTQI+ who use drugs in sexual environments).

Cristiana Vale Pires is also a founding member of Kosmicare Association, collaborating in financial and technical management and in the design and implementation of innovative harm reduction interventions targeting people who use drugs. She collaborates as an expert and consultant to the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe and to the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction in the (EMCDDA). She is also integrated in several international working groups and networks such as, NEWNET, EMCDDA´s Trendspotter Network, Shesaid.so, Drinking Studies Network, International Night Studies Network.