I research stress and coping in high-pressure careers, from professional esports players to K-pop idol trainees, and build psychometric tools to measure what they go through.
About me
I hold a PhD in Quantitative Psychology from Chung-Ang University (2026) in Seoul, building on a BA and MA in Psychology from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil.
My academic work grew directly out of practice. Before moving to South Korea, I spent years in Brazilian competitive gaming as a performance psychologist and esports director. Working day-to-day with young pro players made a gap in our field hard to ignore: people in high-stakes performance careers face very specific psychological demands, yet almost all the psychometric instruments used to assess them were designed for the general public or traditional sports.
Today, I use mixed methods, combining in-depth interviews with psychometrics to investigate how groups like K-pop idol trainees and esports athletes experience and cope with stress, and to develop valid ways of measuring that reality. I teach in English and Portuguese and collaborate with universities, entertainment agencies, and esports teams on research, guest lectures, and applied projects.
applicants to Preparando Campeões, the esports talent program I created
years living and researching in South Korea
working languages, from Portuguese to Korean
Quantitative Psychology, Chung-Ang University, 2026
Research
How trainees in the Korean entertainment system deal with daily stressors, evaluation pressure, and career uncertainty. My doctoral dissertation used a mixed-methods approach to map these experiences and coping strategies from the ground up.
How personality traits, coping strategies, and team dynamics shape performance and longevity in professional gaming, grounded in empirical research and years working directly with Brazilian League of Legends teams.
Adapting, developing, and validating psychological scales for specialized performance populations whose realities aren't captured by standard assessment tools.
Journey
Created and led Preparando Campeões, a player development program whose third edition drew more than 30,000 applicants.
Provided psychological support for the main roster and later supervised the incoming on-site psychologist, while completing my bachelor's degree at UFSC.
Defended my master's thesis on personality and coping in pro esports players, then moved to South Korea as a Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) scholar.
Worked on Brazilian Portuguese localization for major Korean studios, including NCsoft and Smilegate, alongside my doctoral research.
Completed my doctorate with a mixed-methods dissertation on stressors and coping strategies among K-pop idol trainees.
Publications
Contact
For research collaboration, teaching, talks, or applied work with esports teams and entertainment agencies.