Helena Gata

Biography

Helena Gata is a Visiting Assistant Professor at ISEG/ULisboa and a researcher at ISEG Research in the area of employment, labour market dynamics and the working poor. She has a PhD in Economic and Organisational Sociology from the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG of ULisboa), a master's degree in International Cooperation and Development from the ISEG of ULisboa, a degree in Sociology from the University of Porto and has also completed the Social Entrepreneurship course (ISEP) at INSEAD in Singapore.

She teaches on the following courses: Undergraduate - Sociology of Work and Enterprise, Seminars on Ethics and Responsibility and Sustainability; Master's - Team Management and Organisational Models and Human Resources Management; PhD - Quantitative Data Analysis.

She is also currently coordinator of the non-academic course Different Minds. Academia Inclusiva ISEG, which aims to contribute to the inclusion of people with Intellectual and Developmental Difficulties (IDD) in higher education and their integration into the labour market, as well as raising awareness among ISEG students, as future professionals, of the relevance and usefulness of these people in society.

She has a vast experience in development and international co-operation in Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Cape Verde, Angola and Algeria.  She also has various experiences in strategic consultancy and international project management in Portugal, PALOPs and European countries, providing organisations with the tools and knowledge they need to actively manage their social impact, create sustainable solutions and improve the quality of life of their target groups. For 17 years, she was executive director of NGOs where she was responsible for managing, coordinating teams and creating projects, especially in the area of employment and social entrepreneurship. Convinced that we can't act on reality without continually deepening our knowledge of societies and how they work in order to solve socio-economic problems, she took part in and coordinated research studies in collaboration with universities. Some of these studies received the attention of public institutions (IEFP/Secretary of State for Employment).