Luísa Schmidt is a sociologist and principal researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa). She is part of the team that introduced Environmental Sociology in Portugal, in research, teaching and in the articulation between academia and society. She was also among the researchers who created and set up the OBSERVA - Observatory of Environment, Territory and Society (1996), which she currently coordinates, and where she develops multiple research projects that articulate social sciences and environmental issues. At Observa she participated in the first major surveys on environmental values and practices, as well as coordinated longitudinal media analysis on topics related to the environment and nature. 

At the ICS-ULisboa, Luísa is a member of the Research Group 'Environment, Territory and Society' and of the Scientific Committee of the Doctoral Program on Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies – which started in 2009 and results from a partnership between two universities in Lisbon (Universidade de Lisboa and Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and the University of East Anglia (UK). The Phd programme also counts with further collaboration from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PiK, Germany), the University of São Paulo and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). 

Luísa’s current research projects include: “B-Water Smart: Accelerating Water Smartness in Coastal Europe” (2020-2024, EU Horizon 2020); “Local.SDG” (2020-2030); “People & Fire – reducing risk, living with risk” (2019-2021, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT); “Riveal – Riparian Forest Values and Eco-System Services in Uncertain Fresh Water Futures and Altered Landscapes” (2018-2021, FCT); “Sustainability Barometer” (2016-2020); "LIGAR - Energy Efficiency for All" (2017-2020, Energy Agency ADENE); "COMPON - Comparing Climate Change Policy Networks" (2015-2021, University of Minnesota); “Social and Economic Studies of Fusion Energy” (2012-2020, Eurofusion). 

She is author of 19 books and editor of 6 books, 61 book chapters and 50 peer-reviewed articles. Her publications have focused on topics such as climate policy and social approaches to climate change; values, practices and social representations of the environment; education for sustainable development; social problems around energy management, including energy poverty; media analysis of environmental issues and climate change; public participation in processes of adaptation to climate change. 

The results of the first Portuguese survey on sustainability stand out among her most recent publications - “Primeiro Grande Inquérito em Portugal” (“First Survey on Sustainabilty in Portugal”), 2018, with M. Truninger, J. Guerra and P. Prista, as well as an edited book published in Brazil, “Clima de Tensão: Ação Humana, Biodiversidade e Mudanças Climáticas” [Climate of Tension: Human Action, Biodiversity and Climate Change] 2017, with L. C. Ferreira, M. P. Buendía, J. Calvimontes and J. E. Viglio, and “Portugal: Ambientes de Mudança. Erros, Mentiras e Conquistas” [Environments of Change. Errors, Lies and Conquests], a commented collection of her newspaper columns published in 2016.

Luísa Schmidt is a member of CNADS (National Council of the Environment and Sustainable Development) and of the Working Group for Sustainable Development within the framework of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Council. Also a member of the General Council of APREN (Portuguese Renewable Energy Association). She is a founder of the Energy & Society International Network, a member of the Portuguese-Speaking Network for Environmental Education and of the Iberian Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua. She was a member of the Research Committee on Environment and Society (RC24) of the International Sociological Association (2013-2018), and of the Research Network for Environment and Society (RN12) of the European Sociological Association (ESA) between 2013 and 2019, and is now on the Advisory Board of the latter. She has been appointed Ambassador of the Portuguese Alliance for Goal 14 (Marine Resources) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), within the UN Global Compact Network Portugal. 

Regular columnist for newspaper Expresso on environmental issues since 1990 (‘Qualidade Devida’). Collaborator of the national radio station Antena 2 (talk show ‘Um Certo Olhar’, 2012-2019, and ‘Conta Satélite’, 2019-2020). 

In 2016 Luísa Schmidt received the Ciência Viva Media Award from the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture (Ministry of Science).