Cristina Sousa

Cristina Sousa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Economy at ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, School of Social Sciences and Humanities. She is also an Integrated Researcher at CEI-Iscte – Center for International Studies, contributing to the research unit Sustainable Societies. Her academic work spans teaching, research supervision, and leadership across sustainability and innovation domains.

• PhD in Economics, ISEG/UTL
• Master's in Economics and Management of Science and Technology, ISEG/UTL

Her research interests include innovation systems, knowledge economy, entrepreneurship in knowledge-intensive sectors, and the socio-economic dimensions of the transition to sustainable energy and circular economy. She emphasizes network dynamics and policy implications in sustainability transitions. Her teaching portfolio includes courses such as Innovation and Green Policies, Knowledge Economy and Innovation Policy, Transitions to Sustainability, and supervision of Master’s and PhD theses in environmental and sustainability studies.

The research projects she leads or participates in—such as Sus2Trans, OceanTrans, RURACTION, and iNSPIRE—reflect a strong interdisciplinary and policy-relevant focus on sustainable transitions, public procurement of innovation, and social entrepreneurship. These projects involve national and international collaborations and are funded by programs like Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.

She holds significant academic leadership roles, including:

• Director, Department of Political Economy (2022–2025)
• Director, Master’s in Social Studies of Environment and Sustainability (2021–2025)
• Director, Environmental and Sustainability Studies (2019–2027)
• President of the Scientific Committee (2022–2025)
• Coordinator of the 1st Year of the Bachelor’s in Economics (2020–2024)

Cristina Sousa actively supervises early-career researchers and graduate students, with a strong emphasis on sustainability, innovation policy, and socio-technical transitions. Her academic guidance has led to numerous completed and ongoing theses at both Master’s and PhD levels.

She is affiliated with key research units such as DINAMIA'CET-Iscte and CIES-Iscte, which support her work in socio-economic transformation and public policy analysis. Her collaborative network spans universities and social enterprises across Europe.