Paula do Espírito Santo is an Associate Professor with Habilitation. She is Professor at the Catholic University of Portugal, where she has taught since 2014. She is a Professor at the School of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP) of the University of Lisbon (ULisboa), where she has taught since 1992, as well as at the Higher Institute of Police Sciences and Internal Security (ISCPSI), since 1996. She is a Visiting Professor at other Portuguese and foreign Universities, namely at the Complutense University of Madrid and at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania.

She is a researcher at CAPP (FCT-ISCSP/ULisboa) and a research collaborator at ICPOL (Research Center of the Higher Institute of Police Sciences and Internal Security - ISCPSI). Her research interests include political communication, political campaigning, political culture, social science methodology, content analysis and polling, and electoral behavior.

She has coordinated and participated in several projects in the areas of Political Science, Social Science Methodology, and Political Communication. Among the most recent is the international project MAPP (Members and Activists of Political Parties), where she coordinated, together with Marco Lisi, research on Portuguese MPs and Activists from a Comparative Perspective.

She regularly collaborates with the media (television, radio, and press) as a political analyst, especially in RTP3, CNN, Sic Noticias, Antena 1, TSF,  in addition to several press titles.