Clara PORTELA va nàixer a València i viu entre Russafa i el món.
Els seus llocs de docència han sigut Angers, Barcelona, Beijing, Biskek, Göttingen, Grenoble, Hanoi, Innsbruck, Kuala Lumpur, Lió, Manila, Marburg, Ottawa, París, Saigon, Singapur, Tòquio i Varsòvia, a més de Victòria en la Colúmbia Britànica i, per descomptat, el món vitual. És membre de la xarxa de politòloges #NoSinMujeres [No sense dones].
Les seues recerques giren entorn de la política exterior de l'Unió Europea i de qüestions de seguretat internacional, principalment les sancions i el control d'armaments. El seu treball ha estat guardonat amb el Premi THESEUS per la Recerca Prometedora en Estudis Europeus, i el seu article sobre cooperació diferenciada en política exterior europea amb En M. Onderco (Universitat Erasmus Rotterdam) ha sigut finalista pel Premi Bernard Brodie 2024. Els seus articles van aparéixer en revistes com International Affairs, Comparative European Politics, Security Dialogue, Mediterranean Politics, Zeitschrift für Integration i Politique Européenne. Les seues publicacions recents inclouen:
Ressenya sobre el film 'Oppenheimer', Revista Mètode: https://metode.cat/revistes-metode/opinio/oppenheimer-un-esguard-de-reguard-des-de-les-ciencies-socials.html
Holesch, A./ C. Portela, Money talks? The effectiveness of sanctions in the Rule of Law conflict in the European Union, Journal of Common Market Studies (2024), online first. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcms.13693
Portela, C., The war over Ukraine and the transformation of EU governance, European Papers, 8(3), (2023), 1125-30, https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/system/files/pdf_version/EP_EF_2023_I_035_Clara_Portela_00706.pdf
Portela, C./ J.S. Mora-Sanguinetti, Sanctions effectiveness, development and regime type. Are aid suspensions and economic sanctions alike?, World Development 172 (2023), https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0305-750X(23)00188-2
Portela, C., Logiques des sanctions de l’Union européenne contre la Russie au sujet de l’Ukraine. Études Internationales, 54(2) (2023), 287–310.
Borzyskowski, I./ C. Portela, Global Governance from Below. Regional sanctions as drivers of UN sanctions, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 67(10) (2023), 1930-58, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220027231153565
Portela, C./ A. Charron, The evolution of databases in the age of targeted sanctions, International Studies Review, 25(1), (2023), https://academic.oup.com/isr/article-abstract/25/1/viac061/6987069?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Onderco, M./ C. Portela, External drivers of EU differentiated cooperation: How change in the nuclear nonproliferation regime affects member states alignment, Contemporary Security Policy, 44(1) (2023), 150–175. [nominat pel Premi Bernard Brodie 2024] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13523260.2022.2146336?tab=permissions&scroll=top
Portela, C., Are EU GSP withdrawals and CFSP sanctions becoming alike?, European Foreign Affairs Review, 28 (2023), 35-52, https://kluwerlawonline.com/journalarticle/European+Foreign+Affairs+Review/28.Special%20%20[pre-publication]/EERR2023013
Portela, C., The changing nature of CFSP sanctions, in A. Kellerhals, T. Baumgartner and C. Reber (eds) European Integration Perspectives in Times of Global Crises, Europa Institut, Zurich (2023), pp. 73-87. https://eizpublishing.ch/publikationen/european-integration-perspectives-in-times-of-global-crises/
Charron, A./ C. Portela (eds.) Multilateral Sanctions Revisited, Montreal: McGill Queens University Press, 2022.
Portela, C./ JL. Romanet Perroux, UN sanctions and mediation in Libya: Synergy or obstruction?, Global Governance 28(2) (2022), 228-250. https://brill.com/view/journals/gg/28/2/article-p228_5.xml
Portela, C./ T. Van Laer, The design and impact of individual sanctions: Evidence from elites in Côte d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe, Politics and Governance, 10(1) (2022), 26–35. https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4745
Portela, C., EU-Sanktionen gegen Russland: Ein Überblick über Evaluierungspraxis, Osteuropa 71 (10-12) (2022), 103-113.
Portela, C./ P. Pospieszna/ J. Skrzypczyńska/ D. Walentek, Consensus against all odds: Explaining the persistence of EU sanctions on Russia, Journal of European Integration, 43(6) (2021), 683-99. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07036337.2020.1803854
Portela, C., The EU’s human rights sanctions regime: Unfinished business?, Revista General de Derecho Europeo, 54 (2021),19-44.
Jones, L./ C. Portela, Evaluating the success of international sanctions: A new research agenda, Afers Internacionals, 125 (2020), 39-60. https://www.raco.cat/index.php/RevistaCIDOB/article/download/374655/468688/