Her research focus is the intersection between Psychology, Economics, and Policy. She is especially interested in how these intersections can support the design and implementation of interventions and policies in health and sustainability. Her teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include Behavioral Science and Global Health.

She has had papers published in leading academic journals including PNAS, Nature Communications, and JPSP.

Nisa has a B.Sc. in Psychology and M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Lisbon, an M.Sc. in Decision Science and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Science from the London School of Economics. Before joining Duke Kunshan, she was postdoctoral research at New York University in Abu Dhabi.