David Ferraz is an Associate Professor at ISCTE and the director of the Public Administration Doctorate and Master. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from ISCTE-IUL (2018), a master's degree in Administration and Public Policy (ISCTE-IUL - 2008) and a degree in Public Management and Administration (ISCSP-UTL - 2004). He is graduated from the Advanced Studies Course in Public Management (CEAGP-2006), specialization in Organizational Development, Leadership and People Management and from the INA Public Management Training Course (FORGEP-2012). He is an integrated researcher on Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia (CIES-Iscte), Lisboa He was Secretary General of the Economic and Social Council until March 2022. Between 1999 and 2004 he held positions in several private sector companies. He worked in the Research and Consulting Unit of the Instituto Nacional de Administração, I.P. (2006-2010) and was head of the Training Unit in Management and Public Administration (2010-2012), was head of the INA Recruitment and Selection Division, providing this U.O. support to CRESAP (2012-2017). He was also head of the Human Resources Department at IHRU, I.P. (since September 2017). He is a guest researcher at the Center for Administration and Public Policies (CAPP) of the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP-UTL), integrating the Research Group on Administration Science. Since 2004, he has been teaching in various courses at INA and ISCTE-IUL (CAGEP; FORGEP; CADAP; Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Public Policies; Specialization Diploma in Public Management; Specialization Diploma in Public Policies; Reform and Modernization Administrative - 6 ECTS). He was invited to give lectures at HSE-Moscow (High School of Economics, School of Public Administration) in the areas of Management and Public Administration. He has participated in working groups and presented scientific communications at conferences of international organizations such as: the American Society for Public Administration, the Centro Latino Americano para el Desarollo, the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration, the Public Administration Theory Network. He is author and co-author of several publications, national and international, in the areas of Management, Administration, Public Policies or Human Resources Management.

María Asensio is a Visiting Associate Professor at ISCTE-IUL, a researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-IUL), and Principal Researcher at the National Institute of Administration (INA, I.P.). At ISCTE, she serves on the board of the Institute of Public and Social Policies (IPPS-IUL) and is a member of the scientific committees of the PhD programs in Public Policy and Public Administration. She also sits on the scientific committee of the Democracy and Political Representation Observatory. María holds a degree in Political Science and Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid (1992) and a master’s degree in Social Sciences from the Juan March Institute (1994). She received her PhD in Political Science from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2001) and is a Doctoral Fellow of the Carlos III–Juan March Institute (IC3IJM). Throughout her career, María has taught at several universities, including the University of Coimbra (2001–2008), the University of Évora (2008–2011), ISCSP-UL (2011–2018), Universidade Aberta (2013–2016), and ISCTE (2010–2012, and since 2017). She has been involved in numerous international research projects, such as the NORFACE-funded project Healthdox: The Paradox of Health State Futures (2014–2018), and the DFG-funded project Political Economy of Social Policy Institutions (2001–2005). She coordinated the report CAF Challenges to Promote Public Sector Capacity under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU (EUPAN, 2021). Her research lies at the intersection of comparative political science and public policy. She is particularly interested in how theoretical models, institutional frameworks, and political preferences shape policy-making, as well as in the determinants of public opinion towards welfare systems. Beyond teaching and research, María actively contributes to the public debate on governance and social policy. She collaborates with public institutions and participates in expert forums to strengthen the link between academic research and policy design. Her work seeks to inform decision-making processes and to foster a better understanding of the challenges facing welfare states in Europe.

PhD in Quantitative Methods, specialising in Statistics and Data Analysis (Iscte). Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Research Methods (DMPS, Iscte) and Deputy Director of DMPS. Researcher at CIES-Iscte and member of the Youth Employment Observatory (OEJ). Coordinator of the Specialisation Course in Visual Information Communication (since 2015). Researcher on the European projects InCities - Trailblazing Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Cities and Synclusive - System approach to close the employment gap and create a more inclusive labour market for vulnerable groups. National coordinator and member of the methods committee of the project World Elite Database (WED). She has developed and participated in various projects, studies, workshops and papers at national and international conferences. Research interests: sampling, robust statistics, data visualisation, employability, well-being and social inequalities.

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.

Rodrigo Vieira de Assis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Research Methods at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon and an Integrated Researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-Iscte). He is currently a member of the Pedagogical Council of Iscte and of the Pedagogical Committee of the School of Sociology and Public Policy (ESPP). He also serves as an alternate member of the Ethics Council of the Portuguese Sociological Association (APS). Throughout his career, he has participated in national and international research projects developed in institutions across different countries (e.g., Portugal, Brazil, United States). His recent publications have focused on issues related to social inequalities, labour precariousness, everyday life in urban peripheries, and youth sociability dynamics in socially vulnerable contexts. His current research interests include the dynamics of social inequality reproduction, the socio-political attitudes of social classes, and the relationship between labour precariousness and social protection gaps. He is committed to analysing social phenomena across multiple scales: at the micro level, he explores social trajectories, life narratives and processes of individuation, seeking to understand experiences, perceptions and everyday practices; at the macro level, he investigates the reproduction of social inequalities, as well as patterns, trends and structural changes in attitudes, perceptions and practices within stratified societies. Methodologically, he privileges multifaceted approaches, guided by both intensive and extensive research designs, including mixed methods. His experience encompasses studies based on questionnaire surveys, interview-based surveys, participant observation and urban ethnographies, applying a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods supported by specialised software (SPSS, JAMOVI, MAXQDA, among others). Consequently, he has also been dedicated to methodological innovation in the social sciences, through the design and teaching of courses and modules, as well as the development of publications aimed at improving and disseminating best practices in the use of quantitative and qualitative methods for data analysis in sociology.