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The Insider

The Insider

Von: Ricardo Miguéis
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Welcome to 'The Insider' your go-to podcast dedicated to providing an in-depth overview of EU Research and Innovation. I’m Ricardo Migueis, your host, and I'm excited to take you through the most relevant discussions and debates.

"The Insider" has two types of episodes:

1) The Insider Analysis: Deep dive into one topic. Deconstructing. Reflecting. Questioning. Opening the floor to new ideas. Constructive but bold. Searching for that delicate balance in public policy and R&I governance, funding dynamics. Whether you're a researcher, innovator, policy-maker, manager, lecturer, or simply someone passionate about R&I, this podcast is tailored just for you.

2) The Insider Interview: this is where we make in-depth analysis of specific policies, papers, books and other relevant themes in EU R&I. In a conversation with hand-picked guests, based on previous research, publications and R&I policy documents, the goal is to give you the tools to better understand the systems of power that shape EU science and technology policy, funding, R&I institutions and industry.

2025 Ricardo Migueis
Erfolg im Beruf Management & Leadership Politik & Regierungen Sozialwissenschaften Welt Wissenschaft Ökonomie
  • Beautiful Frameworks, Precarious Reality: How Europe Designs Research Careers
    Dec 10 2025
    The Insider, Season 2, Episode 3 “Beautiful Frameworks, Precarious Reality: How Europe Designs Research Careers” Europe has spent years refining its approach to research careers. New frameworks, recommendations and initiatives now promise sustainability, fairness and better working conditions for researchers across the European Research Area. And yet, for many people working inside the system, precarity and pressure remain part of everyday life. In this episode, Ricardo Miguéis brings together Luísa Henriques and Susana Rodrigues to look more closely at the gap between policy ambition and lived experience, and to ask what Europe’s research career frameworks are really delivering. Luísa Henriques is a Senior Policy Analyst and Advisor to the Board of Directors at Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) in Lisbon. She has been closely involved in European discussions on research careers, including the 2021 Council Recommendation, and offers an insider’s perspective on how these frameworks were shaped, what they are meant to change, and the constraints that shape their implementation. Susana Rodrigues approaches the same questions from inside research organisations. As Head of the HR Department at INESC TEC and a researcher in Occupational Health at INESC TEC’s Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CBER), she works directly with researchers navigating short-term contracts, evaluation pressure and uncertainty, and studies the health consequences that follow. The episode unfolds in two parts: Part 1 – The promise behind the frameworks The first part looks at how research careers became a policy priority at European level. Luísa reflects on the intentions behind recent reforms, the focus on skills, mobility and sustainability, and the effort to professionalise career paths beyond the traditional academic model. At the same time, both guests point to a persistent tension: Europe continues to rely heavily on project-based funding and fixed-term contracts, even as it promotes long-term career development. On paper, the frameworks are strong. In practice, they sit within structures that often pull in the opposite direction. Part 2 – Human cost, awareness and implementation The second part of the conversation turns to the human impact of this gap. Drawing on occupational health research and European-level evidence, Susana discusses the high prevalence of stress and mental health challenges among researchers, not as individual issues, but as systemic outcomes. One idea keeps returning: awareness is no longer the problem. The real challenge lies in implementation. Building systems that genuinely support people takes time, resources and cultural change, both within institutions and across the wider research ecosystem. Rather than offering easy solutions, the episode closes with a more difficult question. If Europe chooses to keep its current research career structures, is it also prepared to be honest about what they demand from the people who make the system work? For The Insider, this conversation speaks directly to the broader theme of Season 2: how Europe designs progress, and whose realities are taken into account when policy meets practice. Listen to “Beautiful Frameworks, Precarious Reality: How Europe Designs Research Careers” on Apple Podcasts — — — Artwork note: The artwork for this episode reflects its central tension. Europe’s research career frameworks are carefully designed and elegant, like the ornate umbrella shielding the statue from the sun. They are built to address visible pressures in the system, represented by the harsh light above. But when the real rain comes (the less visible realities of precarity, uncertainty and mental strain) that protection often falls short. The rain symbolises what the frameworks struggle to cover: the human consequences that appear once policy meets practice. Elegant in theory. Precarious in practice.
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    2 Std. und 6 Min.
  • European Innovation Scoreboard 2025 Explained: Bridging Data and Policy with Alasdair Reid
    Nov 26 2025

    The Insider - Season 2, Episode 2

    "European Innovation Scoreboard 2025 Explained: Bridging Data and Policy with Alasdair Reid"

    Season 2 continues with a topic that sits right at the crossroads of evidence and strategy in European research: the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2025. We talk a lot about innovation in Europe — but do we really understand the numbers we rely on to judge how well we’re doing?


    In this episode, Ricardo Miguéis is joined by Alasdair Reid, economist and long-standing contributor to Europe’s innovation policy framework. Alasdair has been closely involved with the European Innovation Scoreboard since its origin, overseeing key elements of innovation policy benchmarking, and currently serves as coordinator for the 2024-2027 period. His perspective reflects a deep, system-level understanding of how innovation indicators are developed, interpreted, and translated into policy.


    With the new EIS 2025 now out, this conversation is a chance to take a step back and look at what these indicators actually tell us, and what they don’t.


    Part 1 – Making Sense of the Numbers

    The first half of the episode looks at how the scoreboard came about, how it has changed over the years, and what the 2025 edition reveals about Europe’s innovation landscape. Ricardo and Alasdair discuss:

    • What stands out in the EIS 2025 results, and where the data remains silent
    • Why countries with similar tools and spending patterns often move in very different directions
    • The role that governance, trust and institutional capacity quietly play in shaping innovation
    • Why benchmark indicators often become political stories, not just technical ones
    • How the scoreboard can be both incredibly useful — and sometimes misleading

    It’s a reminder that metrics don’t simply describe reality; they influence how we understand it.


    Part 2 – From Indicators to Strategy (and FP10)

    The conversation then widens to Europe’s bigger innovation challenges and the structural questions behind them. This includes:

    • The long-standing regional paradox: why some areas surge ahead while others remain stuck
    • Lessons from countries like China or Canada, and what Europe can and cannot borrow from them
    • The persistent gap between policy intentions and actual outcomes on the ground
    • Whether our current indicators are fit for a world shaped by green, digital, social and geopolitical transitions
    • How FP10 might look if Europe treated metrics not just as a scoreboard, but as a steering tool


    One theme keeps resurfacing: measurement shapes strategy, and Europe may need to rethink what it values if it wants different results.


    For anyone involved in European R&I — from research organisations and innovation agencies to policymakers and analysts — this episode is an opportunity to hear directly from someone who has helped define the indicators we all work with. It sheds light on the logic behind the EIS, its limitations, and the broader implications for the next Framework Programme.


    Listen to “European Innovation Scoreboard 2025 Explained: Bridging Data and Policy with Alasdair Reid” on The Insider.

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    1 Std. und 50 Min.
  • Progress Reimagined: Putting Societies at the Heart of European Research
    Nov 12 2025

    The Insider Podcast - Season 2, Episode 1

    "Progress Reimagined: Putting Societies at the Heart of European Research"


    We’re back!

    Season 2 of The Insider opens with a big question – maybe THE question – for European research right now: What happens when society becomes an afterthought in how we fund and govern science? And what would it take to put people back at the centre of the picture?


    In this first episode, Ricardo Miguéis sits down with Dr. Gabi Lombardo, Director of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH) and someone who’s spent years trying to fix exactly that. Gabi has seen the system from every angle, from the London School of Economics and the ERC to Science Europe and EASSH, and she’s built one of the strongest cases for treating the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) as co-designers of European R&I, not just background noise.


    The episode unfolds in two parts:


    Part 1 – Where we come from

    Gabi reflects on her path, the institutional blind spots she’s seen up close, and why SSH remains structurally misunderstood in Europe. She talks about the famous Frascati Manual problem, fragmented national systems, and why “integration” is not the same as genuine collaboration. Behind the acronyms lies a deeper issue: the way Europe still defines what counts as “research excellence” – often in ways that overlook the human dimensions of progress.


    Part 2 – Where we go next

    The conversation dives into FP10, and the new Society policy window, asking what it would really mean to let SSH help design missions, instead of commenting from the sidelines. From the obsession with “resilience” to the need to look beyond GDP when measuring progress, this part links directly with how Europe defines ambition and what kind of future it is actually building.


    Throughout the episode, one idea keeps coming back: Europe doesn’t just need to fund SSH, it needs to learn from it. Because, if we want to talk seriously about trust, democracy, or legitimacy, we can’t treat social knowledge as an accessory. It’s a public good.


    For INESC Brussels HUB, this episode sets the tone for Season 2 – a season about how Europe chooses to innovate, and what kind of progress it truly wants to build.


    Listen to “Progress Reimagined: Putting Societies at the Heart of European Research”, now streaming on The Insider.

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    1 Std. und 21 Min.
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