From campus to parliament

Sociologist of science Marisa Matias tells Tania Rabesandratana how she fights for European research as a left-of-centre MEP.

“I thought I’d still be able to write two or three scientific articles per year, but I’m too busy!”

Marisa Matias, elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2009 for a five-year term, complains that there is no time for sociology. “I miss people, I miss the working environment, I even miss scientific conferences,” she laughs. “And I miss doing research, especially field work. But I like very much what I do now,” says the former researcher at the University of Coimbra in Portugal.