She holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1994) and is currently a Full Professor at the Institute of International Relations of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), where she coordinates the Digital Humanities Laboratory.

She has extensive experience in International Relations, with a focus on International Security, and works primarily on International Politics, International Organizations, International Security, Latin American International Relations, and Brazilian Foreign Policy. She has been a Cientista do Nosso Estado fellow of FAPERJ since 2012 and a CNPq Research Productivity Fellow.

She is the author of International Organizations: Histories and Practices (co-authored with Andréa Ribeiro Hoffmann and Jana Tabak) (Rio de Janeiro: Elsevier, 2004); Ecuador vs. Peru: Peacemaking Amid Rivalry (co-authored with João Pontes Nogueira) (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002); and The Organization of American States (OAS): Global Governance Away from the Media (London: Routledge, 2010). She has published numerous book chapters with international publishers and articles in academic journals in Brazil and abroad. She is currently engaged in research on arms flows in Latin America, regional governance, and Brazilian international security policy, and maintains an extensive international research network.