Researcher at the University of Lisbon Institute of Social Sciences (ICS-UL) and professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge (2012-2013). On the issue of the social functions of the State, he currently coordinates the project «Promises to Keep: The Political Origins of Socioeconomic Inequality in Portugal, 1960-2010» (PTDC/CPJ-CPO/101290/2008). On this subject, he published, with Mónica Brito Vieira, «The Constituent Moment. Social Rights in the Constitution» (Almedina, 2010), and more recently «The Portuguese and the Welfare State» (org.) (Lisbon: Imprensa de Ciências Sociais, 2013).