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Information and Communication

James Higgins

Communication Officer

James Higgins is the press and media liaison person at Eurofound. He is also responsible for the Eurofound Talks podcast series.

Research outputs

James is the author of the following publications.

Events, commentary and analysis

James has contributed the following events, blog posts and podcast episodes.

12 November 2020

Blog post

Europe’s quiet revolution is under way

As Europe braces for a winter wave of the Coronavirus, behind the public health indicators that rightly dominate the headlines, a revolution in working life is under way. In early spring, millions of people throughout Europe took their work home and tried to rapidly adjust to the new world in which they found themselves. The unfolding changes in working life from this sharp shock look set to be a 'révolution tranquille', where longstanding principles and practices could be fundamentally changed for decades to come. The decisions that are made now will ultimately determine the nature of how this revolution will unfold, and what it will mean for workers and employers alike.

21 February 2020

Blog post

Europe’s low-carbon transition makes economic sense

At the very outset of its mandate, the new European Commission presented the European Green Deal, establishing the objective of becoming the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050. The initiative emphasises the seriousness which the European Commission places on the climate and biodiversity challenges Europe faces in the coming decades and proposes an unprecedented mobilisation of resources to finance a transition to a sustainable economy.

3 May 2018

Blog post

Europe’s long-term issue: Youth unemployment

Europe has weathered a number of storms in recent years, yet despite the Great Recession, the migration crisis and the challenges posed by Brexit, the EU continues on a stable path to economic recovery, closer cooperation and cohesion. However, the legacy of the crisis lives on in the number of young people who are long-term unemployed. This is an unsolved issue that was brought to the table at the informal meeting of the EPSCO ministers in Sofia on 18 April.

Other members of the Information and Communication unit

Find more staff members of the Information and Communication unit below.

Cristina Arigho

Senior Communication Manager
Information and Communication

Cristina Arigho is Senior Communications Manager and Stakeholder engagement and Promotions Lead in the Information and Communication unit at Eurofound, having joined the Agency in 2012. Previously, she spent almost 20 years in Brussels working in various roles, many of them at the European Commission, including as spokesperson for DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (2010–2012) and for DG Budget (2007–2009). Before joining the Commission’s spokesperson’s service, she was press officer at DG Employment (2005–2007) and speech writer for the Commissioner and Director General at the time (2003–2005). Prior to her years at the Commission, she worked for RTÉ radio and television (Irish national television) in Brussels as a production assistant and researcher, and later as news producer. Cristina is a graduate in Applied Languages from the University of Ulster at Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

Mans Martensson

Senior Communication Manager
Information and Communication

Måns Mårtensson is a Senior Communication Manager in the Information and Communication unit. He manages Eurofound’s customer relationship management strategy, brand guidelines and corporate visual identity, as well as related strategic projects to improve communicating research findings to policymakers. Måns started working at Eurofound in 2001, following almost 10 years in European Affairs in Brussels as a correspondent for several Swedish media and as the first press officer at the Committee of the Regions. Måns has a BA in Journalism and International Relations from Vesalius College/Boston University.

Mary McCaughey

Head of Unit
Information and Communication

Mary McCaughey is Head of Information and Communication in Eurofound. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the College of Europe, Bruges, she started work in Brussels with Europolitics and the Wall Street Journal Europe. She worked with the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) in South Africa during the country’s transition to democracy, and in 1998 she took up the post of spokesperson with the Delegation of the European Union in Pretoria, heading up its press and information department during the negotiation of the EU–South Africa free trade agreement. Following the end of the Kosovo War, she worked as a communications consultant for the European Agency for Reconstruction in Serbia. She took up the post of Editor-in-Chief in Eurofound in 2003.

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