Marisa Matias

Marisa Isabel dos Santos Matias (Coimbra, 20 February 1976) is a Portuguese sociologist and Member of the European Parliament, elected for the first time in 2009 and re-elected in 2014. She currently sits on the Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committees. She is also Chairwoman of the Delegation of the European Parliament for relations with the Mashreq countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria). Between 2010 and 2016 she was Vice-President of the Party of the European Left.

In November 2015, Matias announced her candidacy for the 2016 Portuguese presidential elections, representing the Left Bloc party. She finished 3rd, with 10,12% of the votes, the best result ever achieved by a woman in a presidential election in Portugal at the time. She was also a candidate for Left Bloc in the 2021 Portuguese presidential election in which she came 5th, with 3.95% of the vote. Marisa Matias studied Sociology at the University of Coimbra, where she completed her doctoral thesis: “Is nature sick of us? Health, environment and emerging forms of citizenship” (2009). Her areas of specialisation include environmental health, sociology of science, political sociology, democracy and participation. She has published several scientific articles, chapters in books and other publications, on the relations between environment and public health, science and knowledge, democracy and citizenship.