Associate Fellow

Dr Ricardo Borges de Castro is an Associate Fellow within the Global Fellowship Initiative of the GCSP. Ricardo served as Adviser on Strategic Foresight to the European Political Strategy Centre, the European Commission’s in-house think tank, reporting directly to President Jean-Claude Juncker. Ricardo led the EPSC’s work on foresight, focusing mainly on global trends, ‘anticipatory democracy,’ and policymaking. During his tenure, he spearheaded efforts to mainstream anticipation and foresight across Commission services. He was also the European Commission’s project leader for the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS), an EU inter-institutional collaboration on global trends and strategic foresight. Before joining the EPSC, Ricardo served as Member of Cabinet and Personal Assistant to José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, as well as spokesperson for ‘Europe and the World’ at the Commission’s Spokespersons’ Planning and Coordination Unit, reporting directly to the President. In Portugal, Ricardo served in the Prime Minister’s Office as political adviser to the Prime Minister after spending four years in the Portuguese Parliament as policy advisor for foreign affairs, national defence and East Timor. Ricardo holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from The Fletcher School and a DPhil (PhD) in International Relations from the University of Oxford (St Antony’s College). Besides Portugal, he has lived in the US, UK, Turkey, and lately in Belgium. He enjoys running and the outdoors.