Researcher profile

Angelo Brandelli Costa

Professor in the Graduate Programs in Psychology, Sociology and Political Science, and Medicine and Health Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS, Brazil). At PUCRS, he coordinates the Research Group on Prejudice, Vulnerability, and Psychosocial Processes and is a member of the Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNET) and the Human Rights Evidence Network (RENEDH). Since 2024, he has served as a member of the Doctoral College in Cognitive Sciences at the University of Trento (Italy). He holds a B.A. in Psychology, a Specialist degree in Social and Health Psychology, a Master’s in Social and Institutional Psychology, and a PhD in Psychology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS, Brazil). His training includes a doctoral internship at the City University of New York (Hunter College) and postdoctoral fellowships at UFRGS and Sapienza University of Rome (CAPES PrInt). He has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Trento (Italy), the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany), the University of Verona (Italy), and Western University (Canada). Currently, he is an Associate Researcher at the Brazilian National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT) in Social and Affective Neuroscience and the INCT for Simulation and Monitoring of Individual Assistance in Extreme Climate Events. He is also a member of the Latin American Research Network on Psychotherapy and Mental Health in Sexual and Gender Diversity, funded by CONICYT (Chile). He has extensive experience in consulting and public policy. For UNAIDS, he acts as a consultant for the national coordination of the Stigma Index Brazil (Waves 1 and 2, 2017–2025). Working with PAHO/WHO and the Brazilian Ministry of Health, he contributed to the Inter-federative Cooperation for HIV/AIDS and projects on advanced AIDS and opportunistic infections in Brazil and Guyana (2025). He previously consulted for the UNDP on the "HIV and Cities" program and for UNESCO on the Violence Prevention Program, where he coordinated the creation of the State Health Policy for the LGBT Population in Rio Grande do Sul. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Trends in Psychology (2020–2025) and currently serves as Section Editor for PLOS ONE. Also serving on the editorial boards of Personality and Social Psychology Review the Interamerican Journal of Psychology, and the Ibero-American Journal of Psychology and Public Policy. Active in international leadership, he has held positions within the Association for Psychological Science (APS) on committees for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Elections, and Membership, as well as the Global Psychological Science Summit Planning Committee. He is a member of the Award Committee for the ISSBD, a leader in the APA’s Global Psychology Learning Leadership Institute, and a Fellow of the IASR. His service also includes terms on the International Affairs Committees of the SRCD (2019–2021). He coordinates research projects funded by major national and international agencies. Recently, he has led projects funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2024) and the European Research Council (ERC) via international cooperation agreements. In Brazil, he manages grants from various calls by CNPq, CAPES, and FAPERGS (including projects on Climate Emergency, Systematic Reviews, and Internationalization). He has been a CNPq Research Productivity Fellow since 2018. He was the first Latin American researcher to receive the Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science (2018). He was also recognized as an Emerging Leader by the American Psychological Association (2022) and was invited to contribute to the special issue Rising Stars in Social Psychology by Frontiers in Social Psychology (2024). In 2026, he was recognized by the AD Scientific Index as one of the Top 100 Scientists in Social Sciences/Psychology in Brazil. Research Interests: Social and health psychology, with an emphasis on prejudice, political attitudes, sexuality, gender, and HIV/AIDS.