João Sebastião, sociologist, PhD in Sociology. Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Policies at ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon and researcher at the Center for Research and Studies in Sociology-IUL (CIES-IUL), where he was director between 2014 and 2020. His main research areas are social inequalities in education, educational policies and school violence. In convergence with the research in sociology of education worked as expert in the area of school violence for different national and international institutions (OECD, EU, Council of Europe; or as developer and Coordinator of the School Safety Observatory of the Portuguese Ministry of Education, among others). At CIES maintains a line of work of applied science on programs about school success and early school leaving, class dimension, school violence and municipal educational plans, cooperating with schools, local authorities or NGOs.  

PhD in Sociology from Iscte- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL) in 2023. I studied the political appropriation of the notion of resilience and its role in transforming the European social model in the aftermath of the 2007/8 financial crisis and the global pandemic crisis in 2020, presenting a dissertation with the title: Everything is not gonna be alright: contributions to a critical perspective on social resilience. Graduated in Sociology in 2004 and finished a Master in Urban Studies in 2010, in both cases from Iscte-IUL. I am currently an integrated researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (Cies-IUL), integrating the line of research “Inequalities, Work and Well Being”, and guest assistant professor at Iscte-IUL, integrated in the Department of Political Science and Policies Public (ESPP). I am a researcher in studies in the areas of poverty and social inequalities, social protection, employment, and education, with an emphasis on evaluating policies aimed at reducing poverty and increasing the qualifications of disadvantaged social groups. I am co-author of articles in national and international publications, such as: “Labor relations under hardship in Europe: contributions for social resilience theory” (2023), “Fighting poverty in times of crisis in Europe: Is resilience a hidden resource for social policy?” (2022), “Welfare State Development in Portugal: From “Stage Zero” to the Post-Crisis “Leftist” Compromise against Austerity” (2019), “Crisis and Poverty in Portugal: resilience or social protection?” (2018), “Resilience: Moving from a “heroic” notion to a sociological concept” (2017), among others. My main research interests are: poverty, social inequalities and resilience; public policies; economic sociology and political economy; and education.

With a PhD in Sociology from ISCTE (2015),is a researcher at CIES-IUL since 2020 and is a visiting assistant professor at ISCTE's Department of Social Research Methods (25% assignment). She began working in research in 2008 (at CICS.NOVA), and has extensive experience in research projects in the areas of education, welfare, public policy, school administration and management, diagnostic studies for the preparation of strategic documents and project/programme evaluation models using the Theory of Change. In addition to these areas, her interests include studies on social inclusion, and the development and application of "multi-method" methodologies (with experience in quantitative and qualitative techniques).   Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Sociologist, associated professor and Head of the Department of Political Science and Public Policy at ISCTE-IUL and researcher at the Center for Research and Studies in Sociology, since 1987. Member of the National Council of Education. Former diretor of the Scientific Journal Sociology, Problems and Practices. The main research themes are policies to combat poverty and social exclusion, social policies, education and training policies, popular cultures, rehabilitation of people with disabilities, and planning and evaluation methodologies. He is the author of books, chapters of books,  articles and other papers (more than one hundred and a half) published in Portugal, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Mauritania, Belgium and Angola. He presented communications and lectures in about two hundred scientific meetings in Portugal and abroad. He was Director General of the Department of Studies, Prospects and Planning of the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity (1998-2001), Director General of the Directorate General of Innovation and Curriculum Development of the Ministry of Education (2006-2008) and President of the Agency For the Qualification (2008-2011). He was a member of the Employment Committee of the European Union. He is an active collaborator of diverse associations, of social, professional and local character.

Susana da Cruz Martins, sociologist, with PhD in Sociology. Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Policy (School of Sociology and Public Policy) of ISCTE-IUL. Researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-Iscte) and member of Inequality Observatory (CIES-Iscte). She has been the (Portuguese) national coordinator of the European Project Eurostudent, II, III VI and VII (Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life in Europe). She was Gulbenkian Professorship (by FC Gulbenkian) and she has participated and coordinated several research projects, national and international, dedicated to areas of research such as education policies, higher education, comparative education systems, education and social mobility, and social inequalities.

PhD in Public Policy and Master in Education. Coordinating professor of definitive appointment of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, to which he presided from 1996 to 2005. At the Higher School of Education of the same Institute, he has been in charge of scientific and pedagogical direction and coordination for several years. He has also held teaching positions at ISCTE-IUL since 2012, where he is a researcher at the Center for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES), and has been teaching at the Portuguese Catholic University for some years. He was a permanent member of the Scientific and Pedagogical Council of Continuing Teacher Training from 1996 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Education from 2005 to 2009 and Secretary of State for Employment and Vocational Training from 2009 to 2011, respectively from the XVII and XVIII Constitutional Governments.