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.

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)

João Henriques is a Visiting Professor at Iscte-IUL's School of Sociology and Public Policy, and  Sintra School of Social and Business Sciences. He has a PhD in Sociology at Iscte-IUL, funded by FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology). His initial academic training is in the area of ​​Civil Engineering (Bachelor and Master), and later in Sociology (Master) and Data Analysis (Post-graduation). His master's and doctoral research topics focused on European identity and social cohesion in the EU. He is a researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES) where he has participated in studies in various thematic areas, such as social inequalities, environment and sustainable development, social cohesion, education, employment, family and work, and communication fo science.

Maria José Sousa (PhD in Management, with Aggregation in Management and Public Management), is a lecturer and researcher at ISCTE/University Institute of Lisbon. She was Pro-Rector  between March 2022 and January 2024, and a member of the scientific committee of the PhD "in Law and Economics" (Cycle XXXIX), Università degli Studi del Molise. Is a member of the Advisory Board of Banco Português de Fomento for Public Policies.  She took a postdoctoral position from 2016-2018, researching the area of digital education, with several publications in journals with a high impact factor (Journal of Business Research, Journal of Grid Computing, Future Generation Computer Systems, and others). She worked as an expert in a European Commission project for the creation of a new category of digital skills to be integrated into the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). She was also a member of the Coordinating Committee of the PhD in Management at the European University, a Senior Researcher at the GEE (Strategy and Studies Office) of the Ministry of Economy Portuguese, responsible for Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship Policies, and Knowledge and Skills Manager at AMA, IP, Agency for Administrative Modernization (Ministry of the Presidency and the Council of Ministers) and a Project Manager at the Ministry of Labor and Employment, responsible for Innovation Projects and Qualification Assessment and Development Projects. Her research interests are currently in the public policies of Innovation and Research. She is the co-author of more than 180 scientific articles and book chapters (European Planning Studies, Information Systems Frontiers, Systems Research, and Behavioral Science, Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, and others). She is guest editor of more than 10 special editions of Elsevier and Springer. She was President of ISO/TC 260 – Human Resources Management, representing Portugal in ISO - International Organization for Standardization. She has coordinated several European innovation projects (funded by programs such as Erasmus+, Horizon Europe and ICMPD) and is also an External Expert of COST Association - European Cooperation in Science and Technology.