Maria da Graça Carvalho
Maria da Graça Carvalho
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
2019
In office
2009–2014
ConstituencyPortugal
Personal details
Born (1955-04-09) 9 April 1955
Beja, Portugal
Political partyPSD
Alma materInstituto Superior Técnico
WebsiteMEP Graça Carvalho

Maria da Graça Carvalho (born April 9, 1955) is a Portuguese academic, engineer, and politician. She´s currently a member of the European Parliament in the 2019-2024 term, having held office in the 2009-2014 legislature.

Biography

She has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon and a Ph.D. from the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine in the United Kingdom.

From 2003 to 2005, Carvalho was a member of Portugal's government, first as Minister of Science and Higher Education and later as the Minister of Science, Innovation and Higher Education in the cabinets of successive prime ministers José Manuel Barroso (2003–2004) and Pedro Santana Lopes (2004–2005).

Carvalho acted as adviser to Barroso in his capacity as President of the European Commission from 2006 to 2009.

In 2009, she was elected Member of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic Party, a position she held until 2014. In 2019, she was again elected to the European Parliament for the 9th parliamentary term (2019-2024).

On 8 March 2002, on International Women's Day, she was decorated with the rank of Grand Officer of the Order of Public Instruction by Jorge Sampaio.

She was made a Member of the Council of the Orders of Civil Merit on 9 June 2016.

On 23 October 2021, she was awarded the Femina Prize of Honour.

In 2022, she won the MEP Awards, conferred by Parliament Magazine, in the Future of the EU and Innovation category.

Graça Carvalho at Imperial College as a Ph.D. student (1978).

She is a full professor at Instituto Superior Técnico. She was Principal Adviser for Science, Higher Education, Innovation, Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Development at the Bureau of European Policy Advisers of the European Commission.

European Career

Carvalho acted as adviser to Barroso in his capacity as President of the European Commission from 2006 to 2009.

Carvalho first served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014 as a representative of Portugal's Social Democratic Party (PSD). She was a member of the Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). In this capacity, she was also the Parliament's rapporteur on the Horizon 2020 research framework program (2014–2020). In addition to her committee assignments, she was a member of the Parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

From 2014 until 2015, Carvalho served as an adviser to European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas. She later moved as a staff member to the Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation.

Maria da Graça Carvalho is currently a member of the European Parliament (2019-2024 term).[1]

Long-term friends Carvalho and Barroso during a 2022 visit to Florence.

She integrates the European People’s Party (EPP) group. She is Vice-President of the Committee on Fisheries (PECH). She´s a full member of the Industry, Research, and Energy Committee (ITRE) where she was elected Vice Coordinator for the EPP Group. She is a full member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA), and the Delegation for Relations with the United States of America. She is an alternate member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), the Delegation for Relations with the countries of Central America, the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, and the Delegation for Relations with the countries of Central Asia.

With the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen (2023)

In the current mandate in the European Parliament (2019-24), she was rapporteur for the Strategic Programme of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the Single Basic Act covering nine partnerships with industry under the Horizon Europe framework program, the European Partnership for High-Performance Computing and the opinions on the New European Industrial Strategy and the Data Regulation, among others. She was the lead rapporteur for the Regulation on the Protection of the Union against manipulating the wholesale energy market (REMIT).[2] In addition, she was the EPP negotiator of the European Electricity Market Design.[3]

In her activity in this legislature, she has also been committed to gender equality issues, having been a negotiator for the European People's Party Group regarding the directive on the participation of women on the boards of directors of listed companies (Women on Boards) and rapporteur, for the FEMM committee, of the report on the Digital Divide between Men and Women, in addition to being involved in several actions aimed at promoting gender equality in all sectors of society.[4]

Graça Carvalho and Aung San Suu Kyi during the Women´s Forum Myanmar 2013


Other activities

Recognition

Carvalho is the recipient of the following awards:[10]

  • 2022 - Winner of the award for the best Member of the European Parliament in the Future of the EU and Innovation category at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards[11][12]
  • 2016 – Prize Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, a career prize to honor outstanding women scientists and engineers
  • 2016 – IUMRS International Union of Materials Research Societies Global Leadership and Service Award
  • 2012 – Medal of Merit of the City of Beja
  • 2011 – Prize for the best Member of the European Parliament in the area of Research and Innovation
  • 2008 – CIRCE Prize, CIRCE Foundation, Saragossa
  • 2005 – Portuguese Great Cross-Chancellery of the International Order of Merit of the Discoverer of Brazil
  • 2002 – Great Official of the Order of Public Instruction” by the President of Portugal

References

  1. ↑ "Maria da Graça CARVALHO". European Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  2. ↑ "Reports - as shadow rapporteur". European Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "EU Parliament clinches political deal on electricity market reform". Euroactiv. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  4. ↑ "Maria da Graça Carvalho stresses the importance of women as "agents of change" in the energy transition". EPP. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  5. ↑ "Advisory Board". ENoP. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  6. ↑ "Executive Board". Martens Center. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  7. ↑ Governance Instituto Francisco Sá Carneiro.
  8. ↑ Re-Imagine Europa announces Task Force on “Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation” Re-Imagine Europa, press release of November 25, 2020.
  9. ↑ International Scientific Committee International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems.
  10. ↑ "Maria da Graça Carvalho". The Academy of Europe. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "MEP Awards: Winners 2022". The Parliament Magazine. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  12. ↑ "Maria da Graça Carvalho vence o Prémio MEP 2022 na categoria de Futuro da UE e Inovação". Centro de Informação Europeia Jacques Delors. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
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