Social Affairs

She heads the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). She was Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the Practice of Human Rights at Harvard Law School, as well as Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN. As US Ambassador to the UN during Barack Obama's administration, she focused on issues such as women's rights, LGBT rights, religious minorities, refugees and human trafficking. In 2016, Forbes named her the 41st most powerful woman in the world.

Last updated: November 2023

She has been a journalist since 1998, the year she completed her course in Communication and Media Studies at the University of Minho, before joining the editorial office at the «Publico» newspaper. She started working in the local section, where she wrote about planning and urbanism, then moved to the economy section, where she worked on topics such as public investment and housing policies.
She left the newspaper in 2011 to realise her personal project of a trip around the world as a family – reported weekly on the pages of «Fugas» magazine. She never stopped writing in the «Público», while also working with several national publications (such as «Evasões» and «TimeOut»). She was co-author of the Hotelandia project, where good examples of Portuguese hotels are published, and she returned to writing in the «Público» full-time in 2015. In 2021, she left the newspaper again to devote herself to the journalistic project «Faces of the Village», a platform where the stories of all those who contribute to depopulation not becoming an inexorable trend are published, reporting the inspiring cases of – young and old – people who struggle to reverse it.

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto (FEP-UP) and Vice-Rector of the University of Porto. Director of CIPES – Higher Education Policy Research Centre. Consultant to the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic for Higher Education and Science (since April 2016). Member of the Education Council of the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos (since 2013) and of the CNE – National Education Council (since 2014). Member of the Board of Directors of the Bial Foundation (since 2015).

Last updated: November 2017

She is a journalist at the Público newspaper, where she is editor of the Culture section, and she has also been on the team at the P2 newspaper and 2 magazine. Previously, she was a journalist at the Expresso and coordinated the magazine for that weekly newspaper. She went on two Bachelor’s degree courses, Law and Communication and Media Studies, without, however, finishing either of them.

Last updated: March 2022

Maria Manuel Leitão Marques has a bachelor degree in Law from the University of Coimbra, and later obtained her PhD in Economics from the same University. She is a Full Professor at the Economics School of the University of Coimbra and researcher at the Centre for Social Studies since its foundation. She is also the Vice-president of Association Internationale de Droit Économique. Throughout her career, Maria Marques has participated and coordinated several national and internationl projects on the subjects of Economic and Competition Laws, as well as Legal Sociology and Public Administration. She has authored several books and articles on these specialized themes. Between 2005 and 2011, she was appointed Secretary of State for Administrative Modernization, being responsible for the Simplex program, under which the online acess platforms to government and public administration were implemented. Her current research interests focus on regulation of economy by the Government and innovation of public services. Currently serves as member of the High Level Group on Administrative Burdens of the European Commission. Resign in lieu of her election to the Portuguese Parliament, October 4, 2015.

Last updated: october 2023