Biography

Susana Costa has been a tenured research assistant at the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra since 2025. Between 2022 and 2025, she held a contract under the CEEC at the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from FEUC (1996), a Master's degree (2001) and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Coimbra (2010). She is currently conducting the research project "INSIDE - Characterisation of the population included in the Portuguese DNA profile database and its impact on the efficiency of the criminal justice system and on citizens' rights" (2021.02136.CEECIND/CP1698/CT0003). She is a guest expert on the EU working group on 'Nuclear Forensic Evidence in Criminal Proceedings'. Between 2014 and 2025, she was a lecturer on the Master's programme in Criminology at the University of Maia, teaching the modules 'Deviance', 'Crime', 'Control', 'Social Change', 'Dissertation Supervision' and 'Advanced Topics in Criminology'. She currently teaches only the module 'Advanced Topics in Criminology'. She was a member of the Ethics Committee of the Portuguese Sociological Association. She was co-coordinator of the research theme 'Risk(s), Ecologies, Health' (2022-2025). She has been a member of the Board of the Inocência Project (Portugal) since 2020. She was a member of the team for the CES/RUC Programme 'There are lives in this city!' (2022-2024). In recent years, her research interests have focused on the relationship between science and law and the use of DNA to assist the justice system. Her research centres on the social studies of science, social studies of forensic genetics , sociology of science and sociology of law. She is author of two books: Costa, Susana "A Justiça em Laboratório", Almedina, 2003; Costa, Susana, "Filhos da (sua) mãe", Almedina (2012); and co-authored others, namely, Costa, Susana, Santos, Filipe e Ademar, Carlos, "Da cena de crime ao tribunal. Trajetórias e culturas forenses", Pactor, 2020, Costa, Susana and Helena Machado, "A ciência na luta contra o crime", Humus, 2012. She highlights the following papers recently published: Costa, Susana e Santos, Filipe, (2025). "Bases de dados para fins de investigação criminal em Portugal", in Rafaela Granja (org.), Crime e Tecnologia: Presentes controversos, Futuros (im)prováveis, Editora Húmus, coleção "Debater o social"; Costa, Susana (2024), Tech-effect bottom-up e top-down: imaginários forenses e valores simbólicos da tecnologia de ADN nas unidades de policia técnica forense da PSP, Tecnociência e Sociedade. Sociologia do Conhecimento Ciência e Tecnologia em Portugal, coord. by Ana Raquel Matos, Maria Strecht and Pedro Xavier Mendonça, Imprensa ICS, ch. 3; Costa, Susana (2024). Da reflexão na ação ao conhecimento ilusório nas Unidades de Polícia Técnica Forense em Portugal, Horizontes Antropológicos, Volume: 30, Número: 68, https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9983e680409 ; Santos, Filipe, Costa, Susana (2023). Crime in a prison cell: Epistemic Cultures and institutional neutrality in an inquisitorial setting, Crime, Media, Culture. DOI: 10.1177/17416590231196131; Duarte, Vera, Costa, Susana, Cardoso, Catarina, Soares Mariana (2023). Behaviors and Attitudes Towards Companion Animals During COVID-19: An Exploratory Study in Portugal, Animals and Society, DOI: 10.1163/15685306-BJA10138; Costa, Susana (2022). "DNA as 'ready-made evidence': An analysis of Portuguese judges' views", The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13657127211070331