Sílvia Ferreira holds a PhD in Sociology from Lancaster University (UK). She is assistant professor in Sociology at the Faculty of Economics of Coimbra University (FEUC) since 2011, permanent researcher at the Centre for Social Studies since 2004 and member of the Center for Cooperative and Social Economy Studies of the Faculty of Economics since 2002. She lectures at undergraduate and at graduate levels in the Sociology degree, master in Sociology, master in Society, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and in the Sociology PhD Programme. Since 2011 she is co-coordinator of the Sociology PhD Programme and, since 2014, she co-coordinates the Post-graduation in Social Economy at FEUC. Between 2015 and 2017 she coordinated the Sociology Degree and the Sociology Department. She is member of the scientific board of FEUC since 2016. She has been lecturer in advanced training courses such as (2019) RurAction Spring School on "Social Innovations and Regional Development - Possibilities and Limits of Intentional Change" (Roskilde University), (2018) COST-CNRS-EMES International Training School: Social enterprises and research methods: Qualitative methods, mixed methods and international comparisons (Aix-En Provence University), (2015) 4th European Summer School on Social Economy (University of Bologna). Since 1996 she has been involved in research on social security reform, third sector and social policy, gender equality in third sector organisations, social entrepreneurship and social innovation in the social and solidarity economy, social enterprises, volunteering and local governance through state/third sector partnerships. She currently coordinates the research projects EMPOWER-SE – Empowering the New Generation of Social Enterprise Scholars, funded by COST/EC and the project TIMES – Institutional Trajectories and Models of Social Enterprises in Portugal, funded by FCT/EU, besides participating as researcher in other projects on social innovation and social welfare. She recently completed the study on "Up-date of the mapping of social enterprises and their eco-systems in Europe", funded by EURICSE on behalf of the European Commission. Since 2019 she co-founded and co-coordinates the section on Civil Society, Alternative Economies and Volunteering in the Portuguese Sociological Association. Since 2015, she is board member of EMES – International Research Network, the main international research network on social enterprises and between 2009 and 2015 she was Book Review Editor of VOLUNTAS, the journal of the International Society for This Sector Research. She was member of the board (2012-2014) and member of the permanent commission of the scientific council of the Center for Social Studies. Some of her publications include: (2020, forthcoming), “Social Enterprise in Portugal Concepts, Contexts and Models”, in J. Defourny & M. Nyssens (org.), Social Enterprise in Western Europe. London: Routledge (with J. Almeida); (2019), Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe. Updated country report: Portugal, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union; (2019) “Social Innovation and Public Policy”, in Howaldt, J.; Kaletka, C.; Schröder, A.; Zirngiebl, M. (org.), Atlas of Social Innovation. New Practices for a Better Future, Dortmund: TU Dortmund Universit (with L. Hulgard); (2019) "A economia social na hibridização com o Estado, o mercado e a sociedade: perspetivas analíticas macro, meso e micro", in VVAA (org.), Economia Social - olhares cruzados. Coimbra: Almedina; (2015) "Sociological Observations of the Third Sector through Systems Theory: An Analytical Proposal", Voluntas, 25(6); (2015) "New Paths for Third Sector Institutions in a Welfare State in Crisis: The Case of Portugal", Nonprofit Policy Forum, 6(2); (2015) The social and institutional impact of the economic and finantial crisis on third sector organisations. Lisboa: EAPN Portugal/Rede Europeia Anti-Pobreza (with E. Santos, P. Cruz and M. Lopes.