Liliana Maria Gonçalves Rodrigues de Góis (born

Santo António Santo António (Portuguese for Saint Anthony), also known as Santo António do Príncipe, is the main settlement of the island of Príncipe in São Tomé and Príncipe. It lies on the north east coast. It is the capital of the Autonomous Region ...

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

, 13 April 1973) is a

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

-born politician of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

, representing

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Professional career

Prior to her election to the European Parliament, Rodrigues served as the president of the Laboratório de Ideias da Madeira from 2011 until 2015. In her professional life she is a professor at the

University of Madeira The University of Madeira (''UMa''; , ) is a Portuguese public university, created in 1988 in Funchal, Madeira. The university offers first, second cycle and Doctorate academic degrees in a wide range of fields, in accordance with the Bologna pr ...

and an educational investigator. She graduated from the

Universidade Nova de Lisboa NOVA University Lisbon (, ), or just NOVA, is a Portuguese public university whose rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the newest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital city, earning its name as the " ...

in 1996 with a degree in philosophy, and received two degrees in education from the University of Madeira, a master's degree in 2003 and a doctorate in 2008. She has taught philosophy, psychology, and sociology at the secondary level as well. She has also traveled to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

to teach. In her spare time Rodrigues enjoys training dogs, a hobby which she says is difficult to pursue in Brussels. She has said that she intends to retain her connections to Madeira while in Parliament.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019

Rodrigues was first elected to the European Parliament in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. In Parliament, she served on the

Committee on Regional Development A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

, the

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) is a committee of the European Parliament. Membership Chair 9th Term Vice Chairs * Eugenia Rodríguez Palop * Sylwia Spurek * Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi * Radka Maxova 7th Term ...

, the Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries, and the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, she was a member of the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Uni ...

Political positions

Rodrigues has spoken against austerity measures taken by the

government of Portugal A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a m ...

References

1973 births Living people Madeiran politicians People from Funchal Socialist Party (Portugal) MEPs MEPs for Portugal 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for Portugal NOVA University Lisbon alumni University of Madeira alumni Academic staff of the University of Madeira {{Portugal-politician-stub