News

During her academic exchange in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sara Santos, a student at Universidade Lusófona, participated in a community-based financial literacy initiative involving children from a local favela. The experience provided an opportunity to connect academic learning with the social realities of inequality, citizenship, and access to opportunities, inspiring her to write a reflective article about the role of the state and the challenges of social inclusion.

While delivering a financial literacy session, an unexpected question from one of the children encouraged Sara to reconsider some of the concepts she had studied at university, particularly those concerning public responsibility, social inequality, and the prospects available to young people growing up in disadvantaged communities.

The experience highlighted the importance of international academic mobility as an opportunity for intercultural learning, critical reflection on research and policy building, and engagement with different social contexts. It also encouraged a broader examination of the relationship between public institutions, social protection, and the unequal distribution of opportunities.

In the article accompanying this news, Sara shared her reflections on the experience and explored how direct engagement with local communities could contribute to a deeper understanding of political and social challenges. As she explained, the experience went beyond the knowledge she had intended to share, offering lessons that reshaped her understanding of what it meant to protect citizens and ensure that everyone could envision a future with opportunities.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE 

The Department of Political Science, Sociology and International Relations at Universidade Lusófona, in collaboration with the Res Publica Foundation, host the launch of issue No. 98 of Finisterra – Revista de Reflexão e Crítica, entitled O Inimigo Americano (The American Enemy), on 20 October 2026.

Featuring contributions from faculty members and researchers of the Department, the publication addresses contemporary geopolitical transformations and the challenges associated with the emergence of a new international order. The event will provide an opportunity for academic debate on shifting international power relations, geopolitical tensions, and the political and civilizational dimensions shaping global affairs.

Among the contributors is Jorge Botelho Moniz, Associate Professor at Universidade Lusófona and researcher at LusoGlobe, who will present his contribution, Geopolítica Sagrada: As Novas Esferas de Pertença Civilizacional (Sacred Geopolitics: The New Spheres of Civilizational Belonging). His intervention will explore the relationship between geopolitics, religion, and civilizational identities in the context of contemporary international transformations.

The programme had  introductory remarks by Pedro Silva Pereira, President of the Res Publica Foundation. At 6:15 PM, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, former Executive Administrator of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, presented O Mundo à Beira do Abismo (The World on the Brink of the Abyss), followed by Jorge Botelho Moniz's intervention. The session was moderated by Fernando Pereira Marques, Director of Finisterra.

The event contributed to ongoing academic discussions on international politics, global governance, and the changing configuration of geopolitical and civilizational relations.

Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

20 October 2026 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

A major research study examining the profiles, recruitment patterns, and professional backgrounds of Portuguese ministers between 1976 and 2025 was published by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation in September 2026. Entitled Quem Governa Portugal? Perfis ministeriais em perspetiva comparada (1976–2025), the study was coordinated by António Costa Pinto, Vice-President of the Lusófona Centre on Global Challenges (LusoGlobe), and Marcelo Camerlo, with contributions from an international team of political scientists, including LusoGlobe researchers Teresa Ruel and Susana Rogeiro Nina.

The research provided a comprehensive analysis of Portugal's ministerial elites throughout five decades of democratic governance, placing Portuguese developments in comparative perspective with other Southern European democracies. It examined five key dimensions of ministerial profiles: party affiliation, political experience, academic background, professional trajectories, and management experience.

Among its main findings, the study identified an increasing professionalisation of Portuguese governing elites, reflecting the broader consolidation of democratic institutions since 1976. It also highlighted the emergence of a hybrid recruitment model in which political experience and technical expertise became increasingly interconnected. Although ministers demonstrated growing levels of specialisation, political parties continued to play a central role in ministerial recruitment.

These findings contributed to broader debates on political representation, elite circulation, institutional development, and the relationship between political careers and government performance. The comparative approach also provided a basis for examining how different democratic systems selected political leaders and responded to changing governance challenges.

The participation of António Costa Pinto, Teresa Ruel, and Susana Rogeiro Nina reflected LusoGlobe's contribution to collaborative research on political institutions, democratic governance, and comparative politics. The publication also strengthened the visibility of research conducted through international academic networks and reinforced the Centre's commitment to producing knowledge with relevance for both scholarly debate and public policy.

The research project received support from the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, which made the full study and an executive summary freely available to the public.

Publication: Quem Governa Portugal? Perfis ministeriais em perspetiva comparada (1976–2025)

Scientific coordination: António Costa Pinto and Marcelo Camerlo

Publication date: 14 September 2026

Publisher and funding institution: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos

Full study and executive summary: https://ffms.pt/pt-pt/estudos/estudos/quem-governa-portugal-perfis-ministeriais-em-perspetiva-comparada-1976-2025

The Lusófona Centre on Global Challenges (LusoGlobe) hosted the First International Symposium on Illicit Markets between Brazil and Iberian Europe on 9 and 10 October 2026 at Lusófona University in Lisbon. The event brought together researchers and experts from Brazilian, Portuguese, and Spanish institutions to examine the growing complexity of illicit markets and their implications for transnational security, international cooperation, and governance across the Atlantic.

The symposium provided an interdisciplinary forum for discussing the interconnected dynamics of arms trafficking, human trafficking, irregular pesticide trade, environmental crimes, and cybercrime. Particular attention was given to the ways in which illicit networks operated across maritime routes, digital infrastructures, and overlapping institutional and regulatory environments, creating challenges for national authorities and international cooperation mechanisms.

The event featured contributions from Ana Luiza da Gama e Souza (Fluminense Federal University), Carmen Jordá Sanz (Universidad Camilo José Cela), Carolina Sampó (Complutense University of Madrid), Lara Denise Góes da Costa (Brazilian War College), Letícia Veloso (Fluminense Federal University), Sabrina Evangelista Medeiros (Lusófona University), and Silvia Mangerona (Lusófona University).

The programme included a roundtable discussion on 9 October, followed by a thematic workshop on 10 October. These sessions created opportunities for exchanging research perspectives, exploring methodological approaches, and identifying areas for future academic and institutional collaboration.

The symposium contributed to strengthening scientific cooperation between Brazil and Iberian Europe, highlighting the importance of comparative and interdisciplinary research in understanding illicit economies and their wider implications for security, development, human rights, and environmental sustainability.

The initiative also reinforced LusoGlobe's commitment to international research collaboration and to advancing critical discussions on global challenges. Through dialogue among researchers from different institutional and national backgrounds, the event supported the development of shared research agendas and approaches to addressing transnational insecurities.

The symposium was organised by LusoGlobe in collaboration with Fluminense Federal University (UFF), the Graduate Programme in Social Sciences in Development, Agriculture and Society (CPDA), and REDHIPAS, with support from the Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ) and Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Sabrina Medeiros, researcher at LusoGlobe and Associate Professor at Lusófona University, participates in a research meeting at the DLR Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures, Bremerhaven,, Germany, to discuss the application of wargaming and foresight methodologies to education, training and decision-making in complex security environments.

The presentation, “Wargaming and Foresight Methodologies and Practices Applied to Education and Training for Multi-Domain Operations”, builds on research developed in the NATO context and will introduce the Agents Joint Assessment and Planning Tool (AJAPT), a simulation and analytical platform designed to support multi-actor interaction, structured negotiation and the assessment of decision-making processes.

The session also explored the potential application of AJAPT to maritime security and critical infrastructure resilience through a scenario focused on grey-zone pressures and cascading disruptions in the North Sea. The discussion connects LusoGlobe’s research on simulation, interagency cooperation and security governance with the work conducted by DLR’s Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures on maritime resilience, security and simulation-based analysis.

The visit contributes to the international development of the AJAPT research agenda and to ongoing cooperation between research communities working on simulation-based methodologies for security, defence and critical infrastructure protection.

LusoGlobe researcher and Associate Professor at Lusófona University Jorge Botelho Moniz  participated in the 33rd Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, organised by the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University Law School in Provo, Utah, United States, from 4 to 6 October 2026.

Held annually since 1994, the Symposium brings together academics, government representatives, religious leaders and specialists from different regions of the world to discuss contemporary challenges related to freedom of religion or belief. The 2026 edition will focus on the theme “Building an Infrastructure for Freedom of Religion or Belief”.

On 6 October, Jorge Botelho Moniz took part in the panel “Religion and the State”, alongside Chae Young Kim, from Sogang University, Jean Marques Regina, Vice-President of the Brazilian Institute of Law and Religion, and Brett Scharffs, Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, who will moderate the session.

His participation will provided an opportunity to present and discuss internationally the research he has been developing on religion, secularisation and politics, including the concept of “blocpolitik”. This framework examines how contemporary powers mobilise religion and “sacred capital” within political strategies and in the construction of spheres of influence in an increasingly multipolar international order.

Participation in the Symposium strengthens the internationalisation of research developed at LusoGlobe and the engagement of its researchers in international networks and debates on religion, politics, freedom of religion or belief, and transformations in the global order.