Catarina Santos Botelho holds a Bachelor’s degree (2004), a Master’s degree (2009) and a PhD (2015) in Law from the Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa , where she coordinates Constitutional Law and co-coordinates the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Programme in Human Rights. She is a member of the Faculty Board, Executive Coordinator of the Master’s Programmes in Law, and Scientific Coordinator of the Master’s programme in Constitutionalism, Democracy and Human Rights.
Catarina Santos Botelho is a member of the Management Board of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (Vienna, Austria). In December 2025, she was elected First Deputy General Coordinator of the Academic Network on the European Social Charter and Social Rights (ANESC) / Réseau Académique sur la Charte Sociale Européenne et les Droits Sociaux (RAESC). She is a researcher at the Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law (CEID) and co-editor of the book series Constitutionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean (Hart Publishing). She is a member of the Portuguese Association of Constitutional Law, the International Society of Public Law (ICON), a founding member of ICON.S Portugal, and a member of the International Association of Electoral Law.
She has organised numerous national and international conferences (including, inter alia, three editions of the Global Summit on Constitutionalism, held at the University of Texas at Austin, USA) and is the author of a substantial body of scholarly work, including publications in leading international journals such as the German Law Journal, Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, American Journal of Comparative Law, Revista Catalana de Dret Públic, European Journal of Law Reform and Rivista di Diritti Comparati, among others. She has been an invited speaker at academic events in the United States of America, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia, Turkey, Angola and India.
Her research interests include constitutional theory and legal philosophy; constitutional architecture and constitutional amendment; democracy, political parties and populism; comparative constitutional studies; constitutional courts, including strong and weak judicial review, leading cases and judicial strategy; human dignity; solidarity and social rights; vulnerability and minority rights; digital constitutionalism; constitutional conventions in civil law systems; intergenerational justice; and challenges to academic freedom.