Mónica is an Assistant Professor and researcher at the University of Madeira (UMa) and integrated member of the NOVA Laboratory for Computer Science and Informatics (NOVA LINCS). She is the current Director of the PhD Program in Informatics Engineering of UMa. In the past she worked as research assistant at the SPECS Laboratory of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and at the Institute of Neuroinformatics, ETH-Zürich, Switzerland; and was visiting scholar at the Quality of Life Technologies center of Carnegie Mellon University. Since Mónica arrived in Madeira in 2011, she has been co-principal investigator and co-founder of the NeuroRehabLab Research Group, an interdisciplinary research group that investigates at the intersection of technology, neuroscience and clinical practice to find novel solutions to increase the quality of life of those with special needs. Mónica has been particularly involved in the development and clinical assessment of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for stroke rehabilitation, exploring specific brain mechanisms that relate to functional recovery to approach motor and cognitive rehabilitation by means of non-invasive and low-cost technologies. More recently, Mónica has also been involved in the development of VR solutions for supporting mental health after early pregnancy loss. Her research addresses aspects such as serious gaming and personalization of training. In 2016, Mónica has been awarded the ISVR Early Career Investigator Award, an award granted by the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation to recognize and acknowledge outstanding contributions by early career scientists whose research relates to virtual rehabilitation. Since 2020, Mónica is a member of the Ethics Committee of UMa.
