Her PhD (University of Birmingham, UK) focussed on social and psychological aspects of meat avoidance behaviour. Lourdes’ postdoctoral research at the University of Minho (Portugal) was in eating disorders with an interest on the perception of food portions size. At that time Lourdes was also the nutritional adviser for students who showed signs of disordered eating behaviour as well as guest lecturer for two master programmes in clinical and public health nutrition.