Pedro Velho

Academic work and publications

Positions & affiliations

2025–present — Research Assistant, Center for Digital Narrative, Extending Digital Narrative (XDN) research group — Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Bergen — UiB profile ↗ — NVA research profile ↗ — ORCID ↗

Education

MA in Intercultural Mediation and Social Intervention — School of Education and Social Sciences (ESECS), University of Leiria and Oeste (formerly Polytechnic University of Leiria), Leiria, Portugal

Postgraduate specialisation in Graphic Design — School of Arts and Design, University of Leiria and Oeste (formerly Polytechnic University of Leiria), Caldas da Rainha, Portugal

BA in Theatre — School of Arts and Design, University of Leiria and Oeste (formerly Polytechnic University of Leiria), Caldas da Rainha, Portugal

Additional education — short courses and training12 courses, 2017–2022

2022 — Therapeutic Life Story Work — with Filipa Alvarez — ISPA – Institute of Applied Psychology

2021 — Circles of Memory and Perversion: Autobiographical Narratives and Dissident Childhood in Photography — with Masina Pinheiro

2021 — Therapeutic Photography — with Rosalinda Chaves — desphoco

2021 — Documentary as Encounter — with Juliette Joffé and Therese Henningsen — University College London

2020 — Introduction to Therapeutic Photography and Participation — with David Viñuales — Instituto8

2020 — SPEX – The Self-Portrait Experience — therapeutic photography self-portrait workshop with Cristina Nuñez

2020 — Encontra o teu Fio – Illustration for Children’s Publications — with Yara Kono — ARCO

2020 — Writing with Images — illustration workshop with Joana Estrela

2020 — Experiments in Ethnographic and Documentary — with Helen de Witt — University College London

2020 — Ethnographic Film — with Rose Satiko Hikiji and Jasper Chalcraft — Academia Internacional de Cinema

2019 — Engaged Art Projects: Community and Participation — with Stine Marie Jacobsen — Node Center for Curatorial Studies

2017 — Handmade Photobook — with Hajime Kimura and Sonia Hamza — Flâneur

Research projects

2024–2028 — SURVIVING SOGICE, collaboration — PhD project by Sérgio Galvão Roxo, University of Bergen — survivingsogice.eu ↗

Curation & organization

October 2026 — Co-curator, “After Virtual Reality” Exhibition — XDN / CDN, in association with the Bergen International Film Festival ↗ and USF Verftet — with Scott Rettberg and Sérgio Galvão Roxo

October 2026 — Co-organizer, After Virtual Reality: Extending Immersive Narrative Symposium — Center for Digital Narrative, University of Bergen — with Scott Rettberg and Sérgio Galvão Roxo

Editorial work

2026 — Guest Editor, Contemporary Perspectives on AI and Narrative — special collection, Open Library of Humanities 12 (2026) — with Scott Rettberg, David Jhave Johnston, Malthe Stavning Erslev, Tuuli V. V. Hongisto, Alex Saum-Pascual and Haoyuan Tang

2026 — Editorial support: proofreading and formatting (acknowledged) — Harder, L. R., Johnston, D. J., Rettberg, S., Galvão Roxo, S., & Tang, H. “Extending Digital Narrative with AI, Games, Chatbots, and XR: How Experimental Creative Practice Yields Research Insights”. Humanities 15(1), 17

Publications

2023 — Queirós Pinto, P. “A Mediação Intrapessoal através da fotografia e videografia terapêutica: Narrativas, Convivência e Mindsets”. Master’s dissertation, School of Education and Social Sciences (ESECS), University of Leiria and Oeste (formerly Polytechnic University of Leiria), Leiria, Portugal

2023 — Queirós Pinto, P., & Vieira, R. “Processos de mediação intrapessoal através da fotografia e videografia terapêutica”. In Teoria e Prática da Pedagogia Social, da Mediação Intercultural e da Intervenção Social — book chapter

2023 — Queirós Pinto, P. “A Mediação intrapessoal através da fotografia e videografia terapêutica enquanto ferramenta pedagógica para a convivência”. In Conferência Internacional Investigação, Práticas e Contextos em Educação, Vol. XII — conference proceedings

2022 — Queirós Pinto, P., & Vieira, R. “Uma Proposta de Mediação Intrapessoal através da Fotografia e Videografia Terapêutica”. In Livro de Resumos: XXXIV Congresso Internacional da SIPS (Sociedade Iberoamericana de Pedagogia Social) e 10.ª Conferência Internacional de Mediação Intercultural e Intervenção Social, ed. R. Vieira, J. C. Marques, P. Silva, A. M. Vieira, C. Margarido, R. Matos & R. Santos. ESECS – Polytechnic University of Leiria & CICS.NOVA.IPLeiria. ISBN 978-989-8797-84-1 — book of abstracts

2022 — Queirós Pinto, P., & Vieira, R. “Intrapersonal mediation through therapeutic photography/videography”. In XVII PhD Meeting in Psychology – CIS_ISCTE — conference proceedings

Conference presentations

21 October 2026 — “Beyond the Headset: Conceptualizing Storylistening, Storysensing, and Storyshaping in Immersive Narrative”, with Sérgio Galvão Roxo — After Virtual Reality: Extending Immersive Narrative Symposium, Center for Digital Narrative, University of Bergen, Bergen

23 September 2026 — “Beyond the Headset: Storylistening, Storysensing, and Storyshaping in Immersive Narrative”, with Sérgio Galvão Roxo — CDN Autumn Equinox: Open Research Day, Bergen

11–12 June 2026 — “Super-Vigilant(h)e(ro)s: (Self)Superheroization, GenAI and the Aestheticization of Persecution in Digital Out-group Vigilantism” — Aesthetics of Digital Vigilantism Symposium, John Cabot University, Rome — watch ↗

9–12 June 2026 — “Her Name Was Gisberta: VR Against Transphobia”, with Sérgio Galvão Roxo — 8th Interactive Film and Media Virtual Conference (#IFM2026), Research creation, online — watch ↗

13 November 2025 — “Coexistencialism, Technology and the Politics of Human and Other-than-Human Care: Speculative Design, Co-Narratives and Spiritual Activism against the Commodification of Grief” — SPIRITED: First Annual Conference on Spirituality, Religion, and Interactive Technology Design, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota

2023 — “A Mediação intrapessoal através da fotografia e videografia terapêutica enquanto ferramenta pedagógica para a convivência”, conference poster — XII Investigação, Práticas e Contextos em Educação (IPCE)

2023 — “Uma proposta de mediação intrapessoal através da fotografia e videografia terapêutica: Pedagogias da convivência e mindsets”, with Ricardo Vieira — XXXIV Congresso Internacional da SIPS (Sociedade Iberoamericana de Pedagogia Social) and 10.ª Conferência de Mediação Intercultural e Intervenção Social

May 2022 — “Intrapersonal mediation through therapeutic photography/videography – Narratives, relationships and mindsets”, conference poster, with Ricardo Vieira — XVII PhD Meeting in Psychology, CIS_ISCTE

Selected artistic projects

Film

Ethnographic and participatory film

2018–2019 — 29 26, ethnographic film and community project, directorIn competition, Opus Bonum (Best World Documentary Film) — 22nd Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, 20187th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association (APA), 2019

2018 · Short film · 40 min · Non-fiction / ethnographic film · Portugal

29 26 is an audiovisual recording of the thoughts and feelings of two sixteen-year-old and two nineteen-year-old girls, who in monologues reveal their concerns and ideas about the life they’ll lead in ten years. The director underscores their speech with stylized and realistic images of themselves, acquired under varying circumstances and on different materials, thus creating an original work of art connecting elements of multiple artistic areas that are close to the author. Long shots of the protagonists’ faces, captured in great detail, are highlighted with expressive illumination and interleaved with poetic, experimentally conceived passages.

29 26 tries to be an intimate and honest tribute/portrait about growing up, creating a new space, between performance and film, hoping to remember who we were one day.

“Portuguese director Pedro Velho will take part in the Jihlava IDFF this year with the film “29 26” included in the Opus Bonum competition. The work deals with the ideas, emotions and expectations of four teenage girls. Stylized shots on the details of their faces, accompanied by authentic monologues, create a meditative atmosphere, and the viewer has a soothing yet active attitude. Sincerity from the protagonists’ utterances completes the atmosphere of friendly encounter and openness to the audience.”

Matúš Slamka, 2018

Festival selection

2018 — 22nd Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival — Opus Bonum competition (Best World Documentary Film), Czech Republic

2019 — Ethnographic Film Screening — 7th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association (APA), Portugal

Credits

Director — Pedro Velho

Co-created with — Ada Borga, Josefine Winkler, Mariana Alves Canas and Sara Braz Ferreira

Photography — Ada Borga and Pedro Velho

Editing — Pedro Velho and Sérgio Galvão Roxo

Sound — Sérgio de Jesus

Theatre

Community theatre facilitation and playwriting

2018/19 — IV Laboratory of Writing for Theatre — TNDM II, Portugal

2017 — Laboratory of Experimental Theatre — CCC, Portugal

2009–2011 — Director and educator — Caldas da Rainha Youth Centre Theatre Group, Portugal

Photography

Documentary photography

2018 — “Other theatricalities” — LIGHT BOX, Da Luz Collective, Galeria FOCO, Portugal

2017 — Fiebre Photobook Madrid — Dummies Selection, Spain

2017 — Flâneur – New Urban Narratives — Dummies Exhibition, Portugal

2017 — Lisbon’s 8th Photobook Fair — Dummies Exhibition, Portugal

Illustration

2024 — “Infinite Braga 22×22” — collective exhibition, Braga em Risco, Braga, Portugal

2024 — “Resistance” — collective exhibition, Fábrica das Histórias – Casa Jaime Umbelino, Torres Vedras, Portugal

2021 — Capital da Cultura do Eixo Atlântico Award — Finalist, Braga Biennial of Illustration, Portugal

2020 — Prémio Matilde Rosa Araújo — Special Mention in Illustration, Concurso Lusófono da Trofa, Portugal

2019 — VI Pingo Doce National Children’s Literature Award — Illustration, for the children’s book O Protesto do Lobo Mau, Portugal

2019 — O Protesto do Lobo Mau — illustrated children’s book, published by Livros Horizonte; award-winning