Mariana Rodrigues

My academic background consists of a Degree in Biology, Master in Human Evolution and Biology, and a Postgraduate Degree in Forensic Anthropology, all of them at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra. Throughout these years, and after completing my Master's dissertation, I have noticed that my main area of interest is the Evolution of Human Behaviour, in which the topic of my Master's dissertation is included: "Facial Attractiveness and Context Effects in the Human Species". Still in this area, I was also involved in the organizing committee of the "XV Congress of the Portuguese Society of Ethology". Currently, I am doing my PhD in Anthropology at FCTUC, in the Biological branch.

One of the biggest problems we face nowadays is related to the sharing and responsible use of natural and social resources, which can lead to global problems such as climate change or the refugee crisis. While these deserve a lot of our attention, the focus is currently directed towards one of the biggest crises we face in this generation, the pandemic derived from COVID-19. In the face of pandemic challenges, it is becoming increasingly clear that cooperation is needed not only on a local level, but on a global level, to secure a future for humanity and to protect communities around the world. Aware of the need and the challenge, I constructed my PhD project entitled "Social Norms and the Problem of the Evolution of Cooperation in Large Human Groups" with the aim of making a scientific contribution to solving the problem of large-scale cooperation.