Lígia is the Chief Executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact. She is responsible for the leadership and management of the new organisation and also delivered the feasibility study which preceded the setting up of the new Centre. Lígia is bringing ‘what works’ methodology to the homelessness field: the use of reliable evidence and reason to improve the lives of people experiencing homelessness as much as possible with our resources.

In 2019 Lígia was conferred the Award of Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) for her contribution to social science. In 2016 she was awarded a Clore Social Fellowship on Housing and Homelessness, funded by the Oak Foundation.

Lígia was previously Head of Research and Evaluation at Crisis, where over a period of nine years she led the organisation's evidence programme - growing its scale and impact so that it's now one of the largest and most influential in the UK and internationally. She joined the charity in March 2008 following stints at the Young Foundation and the Refugee Council. Lígia was awarded a PhD from the Government Department of the London School of Economics in 2007. She has also worked in research roles for Professor David Held, founder of Polity Press, for sociologist Professor Helmut Anheier, who founded and directed the LSE’s Centre for Civil Society, and for the International Labour Organisation where she covered issues including human trafficking, child labour and women’s rights.