Social Affairs

Specialist in macroeconomics and social security and pensions and expert in the sustainability of social welfare systems and the regulation and supervision of pension systems. She is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Turin (Faculty of Economics) and Scientific Coordinator of the Centre for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, the first research centre in Italy (and one of the first in Europe) specifically focused on the economic analysis of pensions, aging and public policies typified by the concept of the welfare state. She was Minister of Labor, Social Policies and Gender Equality in Mario Monti's government, where she conceived and designed a series of labour market and pension reforms that were crucial to Italy’s exit from the excessive deficit procedure applied by the European Union. She sought to launch a series of measures that would guarantee a truly intergenerational redistribution of income in the long term.

Former governor of the Bank of Portugal. He was managing director of Milleninum BCP (2000-2004), director of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (2004-2006) and vice-president of the EIB (2006-2010).

French political scientist and academic, as well as Researcher at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). He was Scientific Coordinator of the European network RECWOWE ("Reconciliation, Work and the Welfare State") and is the author of dozens of articles on reforming welfare policies in France and Europe. Director of the Laboratoire Interdisplinaire d'Évaluaton des Politiques Publiques (LIEPP) and Researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), he has also taught at Stockholm University, Harvard University's Center for European Studies and the European University Institute. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), based at the Centre for the Sociology of Organisations (Paris).

Bruno Cardoso Reis holds a PhD in War Studies from King's College and a Master’s degree in Contemporary History from the University of Lisbon School of Arts and Humanities. He was deputy director of the Centre for International Studies at Iscte-IUL, where he teaches and directs the PhD in History and Security and Defence Studies, in partnership with the Military Academy. He was deputy to the Minister of National Defence (2019-2022). He was a guest professor at the Institute of Political Studies at UCP and, in the 2024-25 academic year, he was a FLAD guest professor at Georgetown University in Washington, where he's currently a non-resident researcher. He has published several articles and books, including the essay "Can Portugal have a Strategy?" (2019) published by Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos.

Last updated: september 2025

He has a degree in economics from the ISE, a Master's Degree in Contemporary European Studies and a PhD in Economics from the University of Reading. He was an associate professor at ISEG and worked with the European Commission as Administrator (industrial policy), Deputy Head of Unit (industrial analysis of the textile sector), Head of Unit (employment policy, social protection) and Director (social and employment legislation). He is a consultant on employment, social security and European affairs.

Leads the Foundation's Digital & Social Content Management team.
She coordinated the Digital Area and the Fronteiras XXI project, with a monthly debate program in a partnership with RTP, the national Portuguese television.
Graduated in Social and Cultural Communication from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Joana Ferreira da Costa was a journalist between 1997 and 2016. She worked for 11 years at the daily newspaper «Público» writing about Science, Health Policies and Politics, having been a resident's reporter at Parliament. She then worked as a sub-editor at «Diário de Notícias» and at weekly newspaper «Sol».

Last update: march 2023

She is a writer, teacher, literary critic and communicator. She has worked in the dissemination of Books and Literature in the press and on television for 30 years, at dissemination events and writing workshops and tutoring.
Currently, she is editor of «Ler» magazine, she writes literary criticism in the «Sol» newspaper, coordinates and teaches a post-graduate degree in fiction writing at Universidade Lusófona, she is responsible for the communication of Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos essays and portraits, part of the communication office of ULS Médio Tejo, coordinates the Dom Luis I Foundation programme of International Writing Residences and is on the Cultural Council of the Eça de Queiroz Foundation.
She is the author of the novel «This Is My Body», translated into seven languages, of the reportage book «The Last Sailors» (FFMS) and of a «Sentimental Dictionary of Adultery».

Last updated: May 2024

Historian and Researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History (Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade Nova of Lisbon). Her research has focused on the Estado Novo (Portuguese New State), the World War II period, women and the political police (PIDE) during the Salazar and Caetano dictatorships.
She holds a PhD in Institutional History and Contemporary Politics from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a Master's Degree in Contemporary History (20th century) and a degree in History from the Faculty of Letters of Universidade Clássica de Lisboa.
She was awarded the Pessoa Prize in 2007 and the Seeds of Science Prize in the "Social and Human Sciences" category in 2009. In 2015, she was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour by the Government of France.
She is the author and co-author of several books, including From 25 April 1974 to 25 November 1975: Lesser-known Episodes, The Essential about the PIDE, The PIDE’s Informers, Holocaust and Spies in Portugal During World War II.

Last updated: March 2024

A writer and journalist, she currently writes about children's books for LER magazine, an area where she also teaches and does translations. She has a Bachelor's degree and a postgraduate degree in Communication and Media Studies from Nova University Lisbon and a postgraduate degree in Children's Books from the Catholic University of Portugal. Since 2005, he has published eleven books, most of which are recommended by the National Reading Plan.