Ana Paula Pires has a PhD in History, with a specialisation in Contemporary Economic and Social History, by the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Stanford and at the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Currently, she is based at the University of Azores.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Contemporary History of the NOVA FCSH and coordinator of the group “Economy, Society, Heritage, and Innovation” of the same institution. She is a member of the Inter-ministerial Working Group for Military Tourism, in representation of the Secretary of State for Science, Technology, and Higher Education. She is the author of several books and scientific papers, the co-founder of the International Network for the Study of the Great War in Africa, and the editor of the 1914-1918-online, International Encyclopaedia of the First World War, a project coordinated by the Free University of Berlin. She won awards from the Portuguese Association of Economic and Social History, the Alberto Sampaio Award and the National Defence Award (Honorable Mention).