Ana Mónica Fonseca is Assistant Professor at the Department of History at Iscte and, since 2022, director of the Center for International Studies at Iscte. Since January 2022, she has been the Director of the Master’s in Modern and Contemporary History and, between September 2019 and September 2023, Sub-Director of the Masters in International Studies. She is an integrated researcher at the Center for International Studies at ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (CEI-IUL), having been an elected member of its Scientific Committee between 2016 and 2022. Between 2006 and 2015 she was a research assistant (2006-2011) and researcher at the Portuguese Institute of International Relations of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (IPRI-NOVA). She completed her Ph.D. in Modern and Contemporary History in 2011 at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) with a thesis entitled "«The carnations need water now!» German Social Democracy and the Portuguese transition to Democracy (1974-1976)", which received the Honorable Mention of the Vitor de Sá Prize for Contemporary History 2012 and also the Honorable Mention of the Mário Soares-EDP Foundation Prize 2012. Her M.A. dissertation in History of International Relations (ISCTE-IUL), which received the Fundação Mário Soares Award in 2006, was published in 2007: A Força das Armas: The support of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Estado Novo (1958-1968) [Lisbon: MNE-ID, 2007]. Her research areas focus on transitions to democracy in Southern Europe, Portuguese-German relations during the Cold War and European social democracy, and the promotion of democracy. She has published regularly in national and international journals (Journal of European Integration History, Portuguese Journal of Social Sciences, Ler História, Relações Internacionais), and participated in several collective works.

  Graduation's Degree in Human Resource Management and Work Psychology, Master's degree in Organizational Sociology from ISEG (Technical University of Lisbon) and a PhD in Management from the Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa. Between 1997 and 2012 he was a researcher at the Research and Consulting Unit (UNIC) of the National Administration Institute (INA), pursuing his career in scientific research between 2012 and 2016 in the Department of Research, International Relations and Communication (DIRIC) of the Directorate General of Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP). Currently he is a researcher at CIES-IUL, a guest lecturer at the Master in Public Administration at ISCTE-IUL and Professor at Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa. The author has published articles in national and international scientific journals, as well as participated in conferences and seminars on the themes of Training Management, Public Management, Political-administrative Relationships and Administration models. Within these themes, he has directed masters and doctorates.

David Ferraz 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.

I am a visiting associate professor at ISCTE-IUL, a researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-IUL) and a senior researcher at the Strategy and Studies Office of the Ministry of Economy and the Sea. I'm a member of the Board of the Institute for Public and Social Policy (IPPS-IUL) and a member of the scientific committee of the PhD programme in Public Policy. I did a degree in political science and sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid (1992), a master's degree in social sciences at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (CEACS) of the Juan March Institute for Studies and Research in Madrid (1994) and a doctorate in political science at the Autonomous University of Madrid (2001). I am a Doctoral Fellow of the Juan March Institute for Studies and Research, a member of the Spanish Social Policy Network and a member of the Portuguese Political Science Association. I have lectured at the following universities: University of Coimbra (2001-2008), University of Évora (2008-2011), ISCSP-UL (2011-2018), Universidade Aberta (2013-2016) and ISCTE (2010-2012, since 2017). I have participated in various research projects, including the project funded by Norface (2014-2018): "Healthdox: The Paradox of Health State Future", or the project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2001-2005): "Political Economy of Social Policy Institutions". I have recently coordinated the report: "CAF Challenges to Promote Public Sector Capacity" under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU (EUPAN, 2021). My areas of interest lie in the encounter between comparative political science and public policy. I am interested in exploring the influence of theoretical models, institutions and political preferences on the formulation of public policies, as well as analyzing the determinants of public opinion regarding the welfare system.

Maria José Sousa (PhD in Management, with Aggregation in Management and Public Management), is a lecturer and researcher at ISCTE/University Institute of Lisbon, having been Pro-Rector  between March 2022 and January 2024. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Banco Português de Fomento for Public Policies and a member of the scientific committee of the PhD "in Law and Economics" (Cycle XXXIX), Università degli Studi del Molise. 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 100 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 5 special editions of Elsevier and Springer. He 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.

Nuno David is a professor at ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute. He teaches the courses of 'Profession, Ethics and Society' and 'Simulation of Social Systems'.He is currently the Data Protection Officer of ISCTE-IUL.His interests include social simulation, agent-based models, computer ethics, privacy and data protection, the methodology and philosophy of computer science, the ontology and epistemology of artificial societies and social simulation, and in particular, the implications of interdisciplinary computer-based approaches for social theory and social science methodology.He graduated in computer science in the University of Coimbra, received his Master and his Ph.D. from the University of Lisbon (in the field of agent-based social simulation, and in cooperation with the University of São Paulo, Brazil).

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.

Vítor Caldeira holds a degree in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and a postgraduate degree in European Studies from the European Institute of the same Faculty.   He has a long career of public service which began at the Inspectorate-General of Finance in 1984, where he served as Sub-Inspector-General (between 1995 and 2000). He was a member of the European Court of Auditors from 2000 to 2016 and elected its President for three successive terms between 2008 and 2016.  Between 2016 and 2020 he assumed the functions of President of the Court of Auditors and, inherently, those of President of the Council for the Prevention of Corruption.  He returned to IGF in 2020 and is currently a member of the Audit and Control Committee of the Recovery and Resilience Programme (RRP). He is also a Visiting Professor at Nova University-IMS and at ISCTE-IUL.   Throughout his career he has also held other activities, namely consultant to the OECD under the SIGMA initiative (1997-1999); member of the Joint Review Commission of EUROPOL (2002 - 2004); member of the Advisory Committee of the Academy of European Law (2008 - 2011); member of the Governing Boards of the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions - EUROSAI (2011 - 2016) and the World Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions - INTOSAI (2017 - 2020), as well as member of the Board of the INTOSAI Development Initiative - IDI (2018 - 2021). He was also Auditor of EUROSAI (2008 - 2010) and External Auditor of EUMETSAT (2017 - 2020).            Guest speaker at different conferences and seminars, he has written on topics of public finance, financial control and audit.  He has been awarded national and international decorations and honorary distinctions: Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ, Portugal, 2014; Order of Merit of Supervision in the Americas, 2014; Commander Cross of the Order of Merit, Poland, 2015; Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique, Portugal, 2020; Professor Honoris Causa, Sofia University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria, 2008; Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Tirana, Albania (2015).