Fifteen years of work experience dedicated to research, teaching, project management and funding in the field of social and health care, backed by scientific publications, public and private funded projects as well as various awards.

Training
Degree in Business Administration and Management and PhD in Financial Economics and Accounting from the University of Castilla-La Mancha in the Programme in Social and Health Research. Evaluation and Management. Master’s Degree in Financial Institutions from the same university. Among other training, he has completed specialisation courses in Evaluation and Economics of Social and Health Policies, Health Economics, Advanced Statistical Analysis and Financial Engineering.

Experience
He began his professional career as a researcher at the Centro de Estudios Sociosanitarios (CESS) of the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) where he was involved in national and international projects and participated as a speaker in several postgraduate courses on social and health issues. Subsequently, as a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Economic Analysis and Finance of the UCLM and, currently, accredited in the professional category of Full Professor.

Lines of research
Member of the Research Group in Economics, Food and Society of the UCLM and collaborator of the CESS with more than 30 publications in scientific journals of which at least 25 are included in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). His main lines are corporate finance and economic evaluation, in which he analyses costs and financing of dependency, cost and effectiveness of programmes and interventions and methods for the analysis of health and quality of life information.

José Luis is Director of the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. He also directs the NIHR Adult Social Care Policy Research Unit (ASCRU), which evaluates health and social services policies for the Department of Health in England.

Jose Luis is a health economist, and has over 25 years’ experience in the evaluation of ageing-related policies, the interaction between health and social care, and the economic evaluation of health and social care systems and services. He has been involved in several high-profile reviews of the social care funding system in England, as well as acting as a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Health Select Committee inquiry into social care.

In 2010, he co-founded the International Long-Term Care Policy Network (ILPN), which links academics and policy makers in the analysis of long-term care. He has also advised agencies such as the Department of Health and Social Care in England, the UK Treasury, the European Commission, the Asian Development Bank and the World Health Organization.

Studies
– Degree in Sociology, in the branches of urban sociology and sociology, UPV-EHU (1993-1998).
– University Specialist in Migrations, Postgraduate UPV-EHU (2002)
– Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) of the doctorate “Comparative government and political analysis” (2003-2005).

Languages
Basque: EGA

Professional and political career
– Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz (from June 2015 to June 2023)
– Spokesperson of EAJ-PNV in the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz (since 2011)
– He combines his profession with that of EAJ-PNV representative in the JJGG of Alava (2007-2011).
– Career civil servant of the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Sociologist position in the technical team of the Department of Social Intervention (2000-2011).
– Member of the Board, JJGG Álava (2007-2011)

Dolors Comas has a long research career in economic anthropology, gender and social inequalities. She has been a councillor on Tarragona City Council, a member of the Catalan Parliament and an advisor to the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia. From this double perspective, academic and political, she has worked on changes in the peasant family, violence against women, the involvement of men in care, or the care needs derived from ageing, with numerous publications. Her latest book Cuidar a mayores y dependientes en tiempos de la covid-19 (Tirant Humanidades, 2022), analyses not only what happened in the pandemic, but also shows the deficits of the dependency care system and provides alternatives to change the model.

Born in 1978 in the Flemish town of Knokke – Heist. He grew up in Lekeitio, where she currently lives. She studied Economic Law at the University of Deusto. In 2006 she obtained the post of General Administration Technician at the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and worked in the Women and Family Service until 2015.

From 2007 to 2021 she was a councillor in Lekeitio Town Council, and for the last six years she has been deputy mayor and political responsible for Social Policies, Women and Equality and Citizen Relations, Internal Municipal Organisation and Human Resources.

In March 2021 she was appointed Provincial Councillor for Sustainability and the Natural Environment and since July 2023 she has been Provincial Councillor for Social Action.

Yara is a social anthropologist with expertise in gender, care, economic justice, migration and public policy. She holds an MA from Oxford University and a BA from the American University of Beirut. She has worked for the Government of Mexico and as a consultant for various international agencies and academic institutions, including the International Development Research Centre of Canada and Columbia University. She has published research, articles and reports on gender justice and civil society strengthening.

Itinerary
Graduate in Psychology. Street educator, community intervention team coordinator and project manager at the Agintzari Association (1988-1992). Research on “The professional profile of the social educator in the Basque Country” for the EDE Foundation (1993-1994). Coordination of the Social Consultancy Area of the EDE Foundation, from its creation in 1995 to 2009, and of the Third Sector Observatory of Bizkaia from its creation in 2006 to 2019, always combining coordination work with direct work as a social consultant in social services, and also in childhood and youth, working with the three levels of the Basque public administrations, both in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa and in the Basque Country as a whole, and with organisations in the third social sector.

Since July 2019 I have been working as a social policy advisor in the Department of Equality, Justice and Social Policies of the Basque Government.

Outstanding activities
Technical assistance to the Basque Government in the drafting of the laws on volunteering, social services and the third social sector in the Basque Country, as well as in the drafting of the Decree on the Portfolio of Benefits and Services of the Basque Social Services System and the 1st Strategic Plan for social services in the Basque Autonomous Community, including the Social Services Map and the Economic Report, in all cases, until their approval. Technical assistance in the drafting of other decrees in the field of social services and in the drafting of the Strategy for the Promotion of the Third Social Sector in the Basque Country.

Strategic planning and organisational design processes with the Provincial Councils of Bizkaia (social action) and Gipuzkoa (youth), with the City Councils of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa (social services) and with a large number of third social sector organisations and networks.

Research and teaching activity, and publication of books and articles in the field of social intervention, social services and social education. Member of the Scientific Committee of the journal “Educación Social. Revista de Intervención socioeducativa” until July 2019.

Member of the Executive Committee, in charge of institutional communications with partners (local authorities, prefectures, ministries, etc.) and operators.
Responsible for helping to draw up, implement and supervise the monitoring of the Regional Health Project, in consultation with all professionals and users, with a view to ensuring efficiency and transparency; participating in health democracy.
His functions include coordination between the “headquarters” of the Regional Health Agency and the 12 departmental delegations.