SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL BOARD

Malcolm Payne has honorary professorial posts at Manchester Metropolitan University and Kingston
University, London. He was formerly the director of psychosocial and spiritual care, St Christopher’s Hospice, London, and has worked in many different forms of social work practice. His recent books include: An A-Z of social work theory (Sage, 2021), How to use social work theory in practice (Policy Press, 2020); Modern Social Work Theory (Red Globe, 5th edition, 2021).

Payne’s work is characterized by its theoretical rigor and its focus on the practical application of social work theory. He is a leading figure in the development of critical social work theory, and his work has been influential in shaping the way social work is taught and practiced around the world.

Liliana Rodrigues is Associate Professor with Aggregation at the University of Madeira (UMa) in Portugal. She has a Doctorate and Master in Education and Degree in Philosophy by FCSH at UNL.

She is President of the Faculty of Social Sciences since 2022 and Interim President of the Ethics Committee. She was Scientific Coordinator of Education at UMa. She is also Vice-President of the Canter for Research in Education/FCT (CIE-UMa) and responsible for the line of research in Community Development.

Liliana assumes the direction of the Doctoral Courses in Curriculum and Pedagogical Innovation and the Master’s course in Education and Community Development. She taught, as a guest, at Spanish universities, in Brazil and Lithuania. She is a researcher at CIE-UMa/FCT and was a research fellow in Austria.

She was a member of the European Parliament between 2014-2019. She remains linked to European policy at FMAEP. He is a member of the Independent Experts Group of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

She is Coordinator of the Education, Science and Higher Education Observatory at SEDES Madeira.

Dr. Mustafa Kayyali is an academic leader, researcher, editor, and international expert in higher education policy, quality assurance, accreditation, university rankings, and institutional internationalization. He holds a PhD in Quality Management and a Master’s degree in Quality Management and Evaluation in Higher Education.

He currently serves as Manager of the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Directorate at Maaref University of Applied Sciences and as Manager of HE Higher Education Ranking. His work focuses on academic diplomacy, educational reform, institutional development, cross-border collaboration, and quality enhancement in higher education, particularly in fragile and post-conflict contexts.

Dr. Kayyali has authored and edited numerous books, book chapters, and research papers on higher education, rankings, accreditation, AI in education, internationalization, and academic governance. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Advanced Higher Education Studies and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Through his research, publishing, and international engagement, he seeks to strengthen global dialogue on the future of higher education.

Andrzej, PhD, is a sociologist and public policy expert, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy of the Collegium of Socio-Economics at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland. He worked as the external expert of institutions such as the European Commission, URBACT Programme, Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme, and Fondazione Cariplo.

Member of various scientific organizations such as the European Sociological Association, International Sociological Association, European School of Social Innovation, International Political Science Association, European Citizen Science Association, and Human Development & Capability Association.

Author of many scientific publications in the fields of gerontology, labor economics, public management and social policy, e.g., books: “Economic Foundations for Creative Ageing Policy”, the two-volume set, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2015, 2017; “Generations, Intergenerational Relationships, Generational Policy: A Multilingual Compendium” (co-edited with K. Lüscher and M. Sanchez), Universität Konstanz, Konstanz, 17 languages, editions 2015, 2016 and 2017; and “The Sharing Economy in Europe: Developments, Practices, and Contradictions” (co-edited with V. Česnuityte, C. Miguel and G. Avram), Palgrave Macmillan, Cham 2022.

He is a Sections Editor in the “Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging” (Springer Nature, Cham 2021).

Dr. Begüm Burak is an independent researcher, currently based in Turkey.

In 2015, Ms. Burak got her PhD degree. During her occupation as a teaching assistant, she engaged in short-term academic activities in Italy, the United Kingdom, Bosnia, and Spain.  

The subject areas she is most passionate about teaching, researching, and writing about are democracy, free speech, political culture, critical discourse analysis, Turkey’s domestic politics and human rights violations in Turkey along with cyberspace debates, and media and politics relationships. 

Dr. Burak worked as a freelance researcher for several international projects including serving as a country expert for Sweden-based V-Dem Institute. She currently serves as an editorial board member in  international journals including Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching that is published by Kaplan Singapore and publishes articles for several local and global platforms both on a paid and voluntary basis.

Dr. Teresita Cruz-del Rosario was formerly Visiting Associate Professor at the New York University in Abu Dhabi and also at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. She is currently affiliated with the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore where she is a senior research associate.

She has written and published four books all written in the tradition of political sociology and public policy. Her latest book “Far from my Hospital Bed: Reflections on the Pandemic and Society” (Penguin 2022) departs from traditional academic writing. She employs literary non-fiction as a writing genre to explore various pandemic-related themes, among them, altruism, racism, religion, and sexuality. In this book, she describes her writing style as part story-telling, part autobiography, part meditation, part memory, part history, part sociology, and part manifesto.

She has a background in Sociology, Social Anthropology, and Public Administration from Boston College, New York University, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Sofia Bakirli is a Human Resource Educator and Consultant. She holds a BA in Educational Psychology, an MSc in International Human Resources, and a PG certificate in Adult Learning.

She worked in Spain, Sweden, Germany, Greece, and the UK, in European organizations (EPO, EPALE), Academia (Complutense, Linköping, Aristotle), multinational companies (Inditex S.A), international organizations (IOM), educational charities (UK charity commission).

She took positions as an Organization Manager, Education Research Assistant, Curriculum Developer, People Management Leader, Project Bid Coordinator, and Talent Acquisition Consultant. Sofia is a current Business Mentor at Women on Top, and at PWN Global, a Student Mentor at the University of Roehampton, an HR and Communications Lecturer at EUBS Munich, an HR Module leader at Derby University, and a Doctoral Researcher in Business Administration at the European University of Cyprus.