Cátia Miriam Costa is a researcher in the Centre for International Studies (CEI-IUL) and an invited Assistant Professor at Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa. She holds the Chair of “Global IberoAmerica” at the European Institute of International Studies (EIIS). Cátia also collaborates with the official think tank of the Ministry of Defence of the Portuguese Republic in the capacity of Invited Lecturer and Thesis Supervisor. She is also the alternate ISCTE representative in the  RTC-Portugal (consortium of Universities) - OceanTeacher Global Academy. She is the General Coordinator of SBS4MED, an EU-funded Erasmus+ project promoting transformation through sport in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on skilling and entrepreneurship. She is also the Portuguese Team Coordinator at ESTEEM, an EU-funded Erasmus+ project promoting the development of management capabilities in very small enterprises. She is a member of COOPMAR (network supported by CYTED - The Iberian-American Program of Science and Technology for Development), which focuses on transatlantic cooperation, public policy, and Iberian-American sociocultural communities. She is a member of CHERN - China in Europe Research Network COST Action. Her research has focused on inter-continental exchange phenomena (printed press, port cities, etc.), organizational innovations (think tanks, informational movements, etc.), ocean governance and globalisation. She has engaged extensively in knowledge transfer activities, including in the fields of real estate consultancy (sustainable planning), the third sector (project management), training (marketing management), and media activities (regular TV, newspapers, and radio appearances). Her current research agenda is driven toward the relationship between technology, the circulation of ideas, and international communication. Specializing in discourse analysis, she has studied deeply a set of non-European territories: the African, American, Asian cases both in a colonial and post-colonial context, the proto-nationalist and nationalist movements, and their relations with the former colonisers. She is also specifically interested in the construction of national discourses for the international sphere, and in the different perspectives on globalisation. She has supervised Masters’s theses in a variety of programs at five major Portuguese academic institutions: ISCTE-IUL, ISEG-UL, ISCSP-UL, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, and the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Porto. Outside Portugal, she supervises Doctoral projects at the City University of Macau, China. She was an advisor to the Secretary of State of Internationalisation (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in the XXII Government of the Portuguese Republic. Her key responsibilities had to do with) high-level bilateral commissions, ii) trade policy and investment protection agreements, and iii) the diplomatic process of goods and services certification. Additionally, she was the liaison with a number of major policy initiatives in the domains of energy transition, digital transformation, and international seaport logistics. During her time in government, she undertook special strategic initiatives with a number of relevant markets (India, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea) and she had to deal with a number of significant crises (the Pandemic impact in 2020, the Evergrande bottleneck in 2021, and Russo-Ukraine War in 2022). She has cooperated with several research centres and networks in the areas of the social and political sciences. At the international level: CEIBA (centre for research on culture and development, Catalonia, Spain); “Ars, cultura Y Desarrollo” (organization for the register of orality, Valence, Spain), Kairos-Chairo (program Ibero-american of communities, languages and sustainable development), The Human Geography Research Group (Aberdeen University), “Appearance Matters” COST Action network (supported by the European Science Foundation), and “OceanGov” COST Action network (Ocean Governance for Sustainability – Challenges, Options and the Role of Science). At the Portuguese level: IICT (Tropical Research Institute), Centre of Iberian Studies, Centre of Peoples and Cultures Research  (Catholic University of Lisbon), International Institute Casa de Mateus (Higher Education network), CHAM (Centre for Global History, University of Lisbon), CEsA (Centre for African and Asian Studies, University of Lisbon). She has been involved in the organisation of international conferences and congresses in different scientific areas. She has developed intensive teaching and training activities in Portugal and abroad in the context of several institutions: the European Foundation Centre, Asociación del profesorado de Portugués de Extemadura, INA (National Institute for Public Administration), the Portuguese Ministry of Justice, the Portuguese Supreme Audit Authority (Tribunal de Contas), SGS Portugal, ISCEM, among others. She carried out managerial duties and performed expert functions in broad array of organisations. In the third sector: as a programme officer and projects manager she has developed educational projects for disadvantaged communities, and she also organised cultural events, developed sustainability interventions, etc., for different organisations including Fundação Oriente (Portugal) Institut Catalunya África (Spain), CaixaForum (Spain), Instituto Universitario de Desarrollo y Cooperación de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), the NGO CRIAR-T (Portugal), and OBERCOM (Communication Observatory) (Portugal). In the public sector she has worked directly with several entities: Institute Franco-Portugais, EGEAC (organization governing the cultural infrastructure in Lisbon), Municipality of Lisbon, Municipality of Setúbal, the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture and Sea, and the Institute of Management of Citizens Shops. In the private sector: she has engaged with corporate actors such as INCM, CCIPD, and COTEC Portugal. She has been a commentator for the mainstream media in the field of political science and international relations. She has featured in RTP3, SIC Notícias, TVI24, and Económico TV. She has been a columnist in the newspaper O Jornal Económico since its foundation in 2016 (previously she wrote for OJE between 2014 and 2016). She wrote invited pieces for the magazines Macau (Portuguese language) and Macao (English Language).

Cristina Sousa is Associate Professor at ISCTE/IUL. She has a Master's degree in Economics and Management of Science and Technology and a PhD in Economics, both from ISEG/UTL. Her research interests include innovation, creation and circulation of knowledge and entrepreneurship. Currently, her research is focused on networks, on entrepreneurship in knowledge-intensive sectors and on the transition to a sustainable energy system. The results of her research were object of publication in academic journal and books and were presented in several national and international conferences and workshops.

She holds a PhD in Economics from Iscte-IUL and the University of Bourgogne (France), a Master's degree in Economics and Human Resources Management and a degree in Sociology (ISCTE-IUL). She is full professor at the Department of Political Economy of ISCTE-IUL, and an integrated researcher at the Centre for Studies on Socioeconomic Change and Territory (DINÂMIA'CET). She is director of the Master's Degree in Human Resources Development Policies and deputy director of DINÂMIA'CET. She was coordinator of the FCT project, 'Flexible pay for flexible contracts? The dynamics of the relationship between wage policy and employment contracts at the firm level' between 2009-2013 (PTDC/EGE-ECO/108547/2008) and the FCT project 'Bringing Higher Education, Training and Quality of Employment Closer', between 2018-2022 (PTDC/SOC-SOC/30016/2017). She is the coordinator of the Youth Employment Observatory (DINAMIA-Iscte-IUL). Her main study and research interests include skills demand, compensation policies and labour market segmentation.

Luís Mah is an assistant professor in Development Studies at the Department of Political Economy at ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon. Between 2015-2022, he lectured at the Master in International Development and Cooperation and the PhD in Development Studies at ISEG-Lisbon School of Economics and Management/University of Lisbon. He has been working for almost 19 years with civil society actors and formerly led the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) in Portugal. He is particularly interested on the global implications of the (re)emergence of Asia and the international development cooperation of the European Union. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from LSE-London School of Economics and Political Science (London,2004), a MA in Political Science from Yonsei University (Seoul, 1996) and a Licenciate in Social Communication by Nova University Lisbon.

Nuno Bento is Integrated Researcher at the research unit DINÂMIA’CET of Iscte. Nuno holds a PhD in Economics from University of Grenoble (France). Nuno has published three dozen scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals, including multidisciplinary journals such as Science and Nature Energy. He has extensively published on technology innovation, diffusion, technological innovation systems, sustainability transitions, environmental and energy economics, and climate change prospective and policies. His current themes of research encompass the formation of technology innovations, accelerated low-carbon transformation, socioeconomic impacts of different transition pathways, low energy demand innovations and sustainable transitions in business. Nuno's research has received national (e.g., FCT) and international (e.g., EU Horizon 2020, METI-Japan) funding. He has consulted for organizations such as the European Commission, International Energy Agency and IPCC. Previous experiences include postdoctoral researches at Harvard University (USA) and International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – IIASA (Austria), as well as teaching positions in several countries.  

Paulo Marques is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Economy, Iscte. He is researcher at DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte. He currently coordinates the Youth Employment Observatory and the SOLID-JOB research project (both financed by FCT). His PhD thesis was developed in the field of political economy and was entitled: "Young People and Labour Market Segmentation in Europe: An Institutionalist Perspective". He contributes to the field of Comparative Political Economy and studies topics such as labour market segmentation and labour market policies. His PhD thesis received two awards: António Simões Lopes Prize, awarded by the Portuguese Economics Association (Best PhD in 2016), and Manuel Lopes Prize, awarded by the Portuguese Employment Services (IEFP).  His master dissertation received two awards: Jacques Delors Prize, awarded by the European Information Centre Jacques Delors; and the Silva Leal Prize (honourable mention), awarded by the Portuguese State Secretariat for Social Security and ISCTE. An article he published together with Isabel Salavisa in the Socio-Economic Review received the António Dornelas Prize, awarded by the Portuguese Ministry of Labour. Paulo Marques has published scientific articles in journals such as the Socio-Economic Review, Comparative European Politics, and European Journal of Industrial Relations.

First as Lawyer and after as jurisconsult Pedro Quartin Graça has large experience on providing preemptive legal support in legal areas as advertising law, corporate law and law of the sea. He is a consultant in Corporate and Company Law, Environmental Law and Law of the Sea as well as in Advertising, Consumer and Intellectual Property Law. Assistant Professor at ISCTE - IUL (Portugal) and former President of the 1st Section of the Jury of Ethics of the Advertising Selfregulation (former ICAP - Portugal). Pedro Quartin Graça has a large number of books and academic publications in Portuguese, German and Chinese concerning advertising law, law of the sea, european law and consumer law. Pedro Quartin Graça has a wide international experience, namely concerning the relations with Africa, Asia and Central America countries. He teached law at the Chinese Academy of Governance (former China National School of Administration - CNSA), China - Europe Public Administration Project, People's Republic of China, at the Global Distance Learning Network of World Bank for East Timor and at the ProPALOP-TL ISC PNUD postgraduation in Angola. From 2005 until 2009 he served as a Member of the Parliament of Portugal (10th parliamentary term). He was also a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantee; of the Committee on Social Security and Labour; of the Sub-Committee on Internal Security; of the Sub-Committee on Media and Fundamental Rights and of the Sub-Committee on Equal Opportunities. Member of the Portuguese national delegation into the 97th Session of the International Labour Conference - International Labour Organization, Genève, Switzerland. Member of the Technical and Scientific Committee in order to monitor the application of the Selvagens islands to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, since September 2016. Member of the Review and Advisory Board for the preparation of the Proposal of Major Options for the National Maritime Strategy until 2030 (2023) Chief Editor of REM - Revista de Estudos do Mar. Editor of Academia.edu Editor Program. Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Master´s degree in Law of the Catholic University of Brasília, Brazil. External expert responsible for EQAVET verification processes, from the National Association for Qualification and Vocational Education. I.P., Ministry of Education and Science President and member of the External Assessment Committee of A 3 ES - Higher Education Assessment and Accreditation Agency Member of the International Relations Commission of the Geographical Society of Lisbon https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedroquartingraca/

ACADEMIC EDUCATION: Raul Lopes has a degree in Economics from ISEG-UTL and a Master in Urban and Regional Planning from Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. He has a PhD in Economics (Territory) by ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL). FUNCTIONS: Raul Lopes is an Associate Professor at ISCTE-IUL and he was Chairman of the Department of Economics and President of DINAMIA (Research Centre of "excellence"), Scientific Director of the Master in Economics and Public Policy, member of the Scientific Commission of Political Economy, and Coordinator of various curricular units of the 1st and 2nd cycle. AREAS OF EXPERTISE/RESEARCH INTERESTS: Throughout his career he has had teaching duties, consulting and research in the following areas: Economics of the Territory, Innovation and Regional Competitiveness, Strategic Planning, Regional Development Policies and Local Development in Rural Environment, Local Government and Territorial Governance. MAIN PUBLICATIONS: .LOPES, Raul (2015) "Firm performance, innovation modes and territorial embeddedness", with Sérgio Nunes, in European Planning Studies, DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2015.1021666 - LOPES, raul (2014), "O Rural e o Urbano no Brasil", with João F. Rodrigues, in Working Paper do DINAMIA´CET nº2014/02. - LOPES, Raul (2013) "Economic crisis and the firms' innovation process", with Sérgio Nunes, in Working Paper do DINAMIA´CET nº2013/03. - LOPES, Raul (2012) "The importance of External Knowledge in a Firm's Innovation Process", with Sérgio Nunes, in Iréne Bernhard (ed.): Entrepreneurship and Innovation Netwoks, University West, Sweden. - LOPES, Raul. (2001) Competitividade, inovação e territórios. Oeiras, Celta Editora; - LOPES, Raul. (2004) Understanding Peripheral Rural Áreas as Contexts for Economic Development, with João Ferrão, in Lois Labrianidis, ed., The Future of Europe's Rural Peripheries, pp.31-61, Ashgate . - LOPES, Raul (2003) "Zones rurales et capacité entrepreneuriale au Portugal: pratiques, représentations, politiques" -. In "Géographie, Économie, Société", 5 (2003), Edições Elsevier, pp. 139-160. - LOPES, Raul (1990) Planeamento Municipal e Intervenção Autárquica no Desenvolvimento Local, Escher editora. - LOPES, Raul (1991) O Programa ILE em Portugal: avaliação e perspectivas, IEFP (co-authors José Manuel Henriques and A.J. Mendes Baptista).

Sandro Mendonça is Professor at the Department of Economics, ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute. He is also Invited Professor at ISEG - University of Lisbon and Visiting Professor at the Dept. of Economics of the University of Insubria, Italy. He is a German Marshall Fund Fellow since 2012. He was a visiting scholar of King’s College, London, in the Fall of 2012. In 2015 he was nominated “European Young Leader” by the Friends of Europe Foundation. He is faculty of SPRU, the University of Sussex, since 2016. Since 2012 he teaches and supervises at the doctoral programs of the Southern Medical University (Guanghzou) and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (Chengdu). He served as Director of the Economics undergraduate programme at ISCTE Business School (AACSB accredited) during two terms. He was Scientific Manager of “Science and Society” at CYTED (the Ibero-American program for science and technology, www.cyted.org) from 2014 to 2018, and remained an advisor to the Secretary General. He cooperated with CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Rights Office). He was deputy member of the Management Committee of OceanGov (European Network on “Ocean Governance for Sustainability”, sponsored by the European Science Foundation).  His research and consultancy work mostly focus on innovation and industrial policy. He is also active in the fields of strategic foresight and conflict research. His research is cited in a number of scientific papers as well as academic textbooks, professional handbooks and official reports by international organisations, including the European Commission, the OCDE, several UN agencies and programmes (such as WIPO, UNIDO, IPCC), etc. He holds editorial positions in the following academic journals: Foresight and STI Governance, Frontiers in Sustainability, Public Policy Portuguese Journal, and OBS*. He has consulted extensively and internationally, both with the public sector and the industrial sector, as well as the “third sector”, both in his country and abroad.  He has maintained a civic activity for a long time, most visibly in the media. In the past he held opinion columns in magazines like Revista Macau (the Macau-based magazine on Oriental and Portuguese-speaking affairs) and UP (the on-board magazine of TAP, the Portuguese heritage carrier). In terms of newspapers, he held columns in a number of newspapers: Público (Portugal’s reference daily newspaper), Diário de Notícias (the oldest mainstream daily paper) and Diário Económico (a leading Portuguese business newspaper, which survives today as Jornal Económico). He has appeared frequently as commentator at CNN Portugal, News Now, RTP3, SIC-N and TVI-24, cable news networks. At the time of his nomination for ANACOM he held a weekly column in Expresso (Portugal’s leading weekly newspaper). On X-twitter he is @sfm_reg and can also be found on Linkedin.  He was Executive Board Member (2018-2023) of ANACOM, the Portuguese communications authority with responsabilities for spectrum strategy and manangement, telecoms and postal supervision, submarine cables and outer-space economic activities, and emerging cybersecurity and digital economy challenges. Sandro Mendonça is member of the advisory board of the monitoring unit of the Portuguese official national authority for cybersecurity (CNCS). He is a member of the governing body of Ceadi, the intelligence council of the Brazilian telecommunications regulator (Anatel). He is an analyst with the mexican-based DPL News, a media and research agency focusing on digital & telecoms in Latin America. He is a columnist at Macau Business magazine and at Jornal Económico. He coordinated the study "The Futures of Big Tech in Europe" (published in 2024) for DG Research, European Commission. And he is a Fellow Economist for DG Grow, European Commission (for the year 2024).