Teacher
Ana Paulo

Resume

Ana Margarida do Amaral Paulo holds a "Doctor Europaeus" (European PhD) in Human Kinetics - Sport Training, from the University of Lisbon, awarded with distinction and honours. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Universidade Lusófona and a researcher at the Centre for Research in Sport, Physical Education, Exercise and Health (CIDEFES). Her research focuses on the development of sport expertise, with particular emphasis on motor development, motor control, and motor learning in complex performance environments. Grounded in ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches, her work seeks to advance understanding of how athletes and teams adapt, coordinate, and learn over time in representative contexts, especially in team sports such as volleyball. A distinctive feature of her research is the adoption of co-creation-based methodologies, involving knowledgeable actors from practice settings (e.g., coaches, athletes, and practitioners) as active contributors to the research process. This approach aims to enhance the ecological validity, applicability, and impact of scientific knowledge in real-world sport contexts. She has authored several peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and regularly contributes to international scientific conferences. Her research activity includes participation and leadership in funded projects, with a current focus on conceptual frameworks for expertise development in volleyball. Alongside her research, she is actively engaged in higher education teaching, supervision, and scientific reviewing, fostering the integration of theory, research, and practice in sport sciences.

Graus

• Doutoramento
  Motricidade Humana
• Mestrado
  Mestrado em Ciências do Desporto
• Licenciatura
  Desporto e Educação Física

Publicações

Artigo em revista

• 2026-01-30, EXcellence and PERformance in Track and Field (EXPERT)—A Mixed-Longitudinal Study on Growth, Biological Maturation, Performance, and Health in Young Athletes: Baseline Results (Part 2), Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology
• 2026-01-01, EXcellence and PERformance in Track and Field (EXPERT)—A Mixed-Longitudinal Study on Growth, Biological Maturation, Performance, and Health in Young Athletes: Rationale, Design, and Methods (Part 1), Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology
• 2025-02-28, Identifying performance indicators for success in the European men's handball championships, Journal of Physical Education and Sport
• 2023-05-11, How functional movement variability facilitates successful skill adaptation during the volleyball attack, International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching
• 2023, The role of performance analysis within the coaching process: Dealing with failure in volleyball side out attack, Movement & Sport Sciences - Science & Motricité
• 2021-08-17, Unilateral versus Bilateral Landing after Spike Jumps in Male and Female Volleyball: A Systematic Review, Symmetry
• 2020-12, Linking Tensegrity to Sports Team Collective Behaviors: Towards the Group-Tensegrity Hypothesis, Sports Medicine - Open
• 2019, Ainfluênciadapedagogianão-linearedaabordagembaseadanosconstrangimentosnotreino do rematenovoleibol, Retos
• 2018-11-17, Predicting volleyball serve-reception at group level, Journal of Sports Sciences
• 2018-04-25, Co-adaptation of ball reception to the serve constrains outcomes in elite competitive volleyball, International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching
• 2017, Network Characteristics of Successful Performance in Association Football. A Study on the UEFA Champions League, Frontiers in Psychology
• 2016, Predicting Volleyball Serve-Reception, Frontiers in Psychology
• 2007, Tomada de decisão em voleibol do atacante de z4 em função dos anos de experiência nessa função. estudo realizado com atletas seniores do sexo feminino portuguesas, Revista Portuguesa de Ciências do Desporto

Tese / Dissertação

• 2017, Doutoramento, Decision making in volleyball’s serve reception
• 2007, Mestrado, Tomada de decisão no ataque em voleibol: estudo realizado em atacantes de zona 4 seniores femininos

Capítulo de livro

• 2022, Dias da semana vs. Fim-de-semana: Sou mais ativo quando tenho tempo “livre”? O impacto da escola e da família, Mitos vs. Factos no Desporto, Educação Física, Exercício e Saúde, CIDEFES, ULHT
• 2022, A tomada de decisão: o potenciador do desempenho desportivo do atleta e da equipa, Mitos vs. Factos no Desporto, Educação Física, Exercício e Saúde, CIDEFES, ULHT
• 2014, Volleyball Game-Actions: Predictive value of execution-indicators
• 2013, Using spatial metrics to characterize behaviour in small-sided games, Taylor and Francis
• 2005, Caracterização do jogo ofensivo em função da zona de distribuição, da zona de ataque e da oposição do bloco no side-out. Estudo aplicado no Campeonato do Mundo de Voleibol de 2002.

Relatório

• 2025-07-10, Assessment of Upper Body Physical Tests to Infer Neuromuscular Fatigue in Athletes: A Scoping Review, https://doi.org/10.37766/inplasy2025.7.0041

Artigo em conferência

• Abstracts From the XXXIII Pediatric Work Physiology Conference Hosted by Swansea University (September 2023, Chepstow, Wales), XXXIII Pediatric Work Physiology Conference
• 2025, Longitudinal preliminary data on changes in physical fitness in young female volleyball players
• 2014, Volleyball Game-Actions: Predictive value of execution-indicators, 5th ISPAS Performance Analysis Workshop
• 2013, Informational constraints to the decision of passing a volleyball serve, XVIIth International Conference on Perception and Action
• 2009, The Portuguese Female Wingspiker. A Constraints-based Approach to Volleyball Decision Making Process
• 2008, Tipology of the attack actions in the decision making in volleyball
• 2008, Expertise and decision making in volleyball

Outra produção

• 2014, Predictive models of Volleyball serve-reception's efficacy and action mode
• 2009, The influence of age, years of practice and experience on the decision-making process in Volleyball, 12th ISSP World Confress o Sport Psychology
• 2004, Efeito das condições do ataque na sua eficácia na fase de Side Out em Voleibol. Estudo aplicado na selecção portuguesa sénior masculina no Campeonato do Mundo de 2002