Luisa Ferreira is the Head of the Institute’s Social Programme where she notably created and developed the Social Innovation Tournament, a reference in the European Innovation eco-system. She started at the Institute when it was founded in 2012 and was responsible for the development and management of the Knowledge and Social Programmes.
Luisa Ferreira joined the European Investment Bank in 1999 as a senior education economist, then an economic advisor in the Projects Directorate where she was responsible for the economic appraisal of projects and research work in the education (with special emphasis on the financing aspects of higher education) and social sectors. She was also Head of the EIB-Universities Research Action Programme.
Between 2003 and 2004 she was a senior education analyst in the Education Directorate of the OECD, where she was responsible for a project on the role of education and training policy in promoting equity and social cohesion.
Prior to joining the EIB she worked as a senior human resources economist at the World Bank (1992-1999), mainly involved in project and research work on education and social protection issues in Eastern Africa and Latin America. She also held teaching positions in Portugal at the Portuguese Catholic University and at the New University of Lisbon and research positions in the USA.
She graduated in economics from the Portuguese Catholic University (Portugal), completed the course work for the MSc at the New University of Lisbon, and holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). Luisa is the President of the Board of the Jos and Mimieke Foundation, and is regularly invited as member of the jury in competitions in the area of social entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
