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. Since 2021 she is co-coordinator of the Masters Programme on Social Intervention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Between 2011 and 2020 she was co-coordinator of the Sociology PhD Programme. 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 recently completed the research projects "EMPOWER-SE - Empowering the New Generation of Social Enterprise Scholars", funded by COST/EC (2017-2021) and "TIMES - Institutional Trajectories and Models of Social Enterprises in Portugal", funded by FCT/EU (2018-2021), "Up-date of the mapping of social enterprises and their eco-systems in Europe", funded by EURICSE on behalf of the European Commission (2017-2019). 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. Some of her recent/relevant publications include: (2021) Trajetórias Institucionais e Modelos de Empresa Social em Portugal, Centro de Estudos Sociais (e-book) (2021), (2021) "The Emergence of Social Innovation Ecosystems in Portugal", European Public & Social Innovation Review, 6(2), (2021) "Social Enterprise in Portugal Concepts, Contexts and Models" (with J. Almeida), and "Social Enterprises in France, Portugal and Spain (with F. Petrella, N.Richez-Battesti, M.Solórzano-Garcia) in J. Defourny & M. Nyssens (org.), Social Enterprise in Western Europe. London: Routledge; "Welfare, labour and austerity: resistances and alternatives through woen's gaze, in T.Knijn and D.Lepianka (ed) Justice and Vulnerability in Europe, Edward Elgar (with M.P.Meneses, S. Araújo), (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); (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); (2012) "Observando a indecidibilidade da participação do terceiro sector na governação em rede, Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, 97.