Mafalda Escada

Mafalda Escada is a Researcher at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. She joined the institution in the 2023 cohort as part of the academic staff focusing on social policy research.

Her research centers on the politics of poverty and minimum income policies in Southern Europe. Her doctoral thesis, supervised by Anton Hemerijck, examines The politics of poverty: minimum income in Southern Europe. Her work falls within the broader research cluster on Inequality, welfare and social justice at the EUI, where she contributes to understanding social policy frameworks and poverty reduction strategies in the European context.

As a Portuguese national, Escada brings a regional perspective to her research on Southern European welfare systems, with particular attention to the political dimensions of poverty alleviation programs and minimum income schemes across the Mediterranean region. Her work intersects with comparative politics, social policy analysis, and European welfare state studies.