Podcast and blog

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.

Valeria Ronzitti is SGI Europe Secretary General.

Sara Riso joined Eurofound in 2006 and is currently a senior research manager in the Working Life unit. She is engaged in research projects focusing on digitalisation and working conditions. Before joining Eurofound, Sara managed research projects for large Brussels-based European associations and networks. Her academic background is in psychology, communication and languages. Her main research interest lies in exploring new workplace stressors arising from increased digitalisation of work, evolving organisational practices, and change management strategies to address the challenges posed by digitalisation in modern working environments.

Marianna Baggio is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound, working on aspects of the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), gender equality, the green transition and the digital lives of Europeans, including the impact of AI beyond the workplace. Prior to joining Eurofound, she served as a policy analyst at the Competence Centre for Behavioural Insights of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. She has worked as a postdoc at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele (Milan) and the University of Trento. She also brings extensive experience from a previous role as corporate social responsibility (CSR) officer in South Africa. Marianna holds a PhD in Economics and Management from the University of Trento, specialising in behavioural economics.

Noelle O'Connell is the former CEO of European Movement Ireland, Vice-President of European Movement International, and founder of Merrion Advisory.

Karel Fric is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. His work involves survey research, data analysis and project management, with a particular focus on working and living conditions, equality and discrimination. He previously worked as a researcher at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in Vienna, Austria, and at Panteia, a research and consulting organisation based in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands. Karel holds a PhD in Social Sciences from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Master’s degree in Economics from Utrecht University.

Agnès Parent-Thirion is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, overseeing the planning and development of working conditions research. She plays a key role in the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), co-leading the preparation of and leading the questionnaire development for EWCS 2030. Her research interests include job quality, work organisation, gender, psychosocial risks and the impact of the green and digital transitions on working life. With over two decades of experience working on European comparative surveys, Agnès specialises in questionnaire development, coding of occupations, quality control and analysis. She is a graduate in economics and management from Paris IX Dauphine and Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne universities and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics from Trinity College Dublin. She has also completed specialised training on AI leadership (MIT Sloan Executive Education) and the major challenges of transition (Campus de la Transition). Before joining Eurofound, she worked for a number of years in the European Commission.