Education and youth

Mantas Budraitis has over 14 years of experience in conducting and managing research projects and supporting policy implementation, mainly at EU level. His passion lies in empowering decisions that shape effective and impactful policies, particularly in the areas of higher education and research & innovation. His expertise also extends to other policy areas as he specialises in the development, feasibility assessment and refinement of simplified grants, Simplified Cost Options (SCOs) and other results-based tools for EU programmes and the European Structural and Investment Funds.

Gerda has more than six years’ experience in policy research, evaluations and technical assistance projects. Her key area of expertise is in the intersection of education and the labour market, focusing in particular on vocational education and skills policies. She has experience in leading research projects, as well as significant expertise in various qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. At PPMI, she has been involved in a number of research projects for the European Commission and EU agencies.

Rimantas has worked as a public policy researcher, evaluator and public management consultant since 2001. His fields of expertise include education and training, social inclusion, labour market policies and good governance. Rimantas is an experienced manager with a strong track record of working with and leading multinational teams of experts and researchers. He has worked for a variety of public sector clients including national authorities, the European Commission, the EU and UN agencies. Most of Rimantas’ assignments have been within the EU, but many have also focused on EU candidate and neighbourhood countries, as well as other countries undergoing social and economic transformations.

Loes has worked at PPMI since 2017, and works almost exclusively on development cooperation projects, particularly evaluations. Her Clients include UN agencies, such as ILO, UNESCO, IOM, UNICEF and UNDP, and covers countries, projects and policies worldwide.

Through her work, she has led research teams and data collection efforts in various African and Asian countries including interviews, surveys and focus groups. Additionally, Loes has experience developing ethical research protocols for the safe involvement of vulnerable populations (e.g. children) in research activities. 

Donatas has more than 14 years’ experience in conducting Europe-wide studies, evaluations of various public policy initiatives, and providing policy advice to Directorates-General of the European Commission (DG EAC, DG EMPL and others) and EU agencies (Cedefop, ETF, Eurofound). His main topics of interest include vocational education and training, higher education and its European dimension, education financing, skills policy, culture and sport, as well as the evaluation of EU agencies. Donatas is also an experienced communications evaluator, with more than six years’ experience in evaluating communications, stakeholder engagement and organisations’ networking policies, communication campaigns and strategies in various policy areas. He has also conducted research on user experience and usability testing, relating in particular to publications and websites managed by the European Commission. He has also managed several EU funded framework contracts.

Mantas has more than 12 years of experience in policy analysis and advising EU, national and international public sector leaders. He is mainly focusing on science, technology, innovation and higher education policy. At PPMI, Mantas designs and leads international, multi-method research and consulting assignments that help the European Commission and the national governments develop better policies and improve their implementation. Since the very beginning of his career, Mantas has also been heavily involved in designing and implementing monitoring systems, developing measurable and actionable indicators, and tracking their progress towards achievements.

Hanna has worked at PPMI since the beginning of 2011. Her main research interests and fields of work centre on education, children’s rights and well-being, migration, sustainable development, social inclusion and gender equality policies in Europe and beyond. She leads numerous studies covering education governance, educational assessment systems, school innovation and digital education, the professional development of teachers, inclusion and equity in education, education for sustainable development, and others. Hanna has led research projects commissioned by various Directorates-General of the European Commission, as well as the European Parliament, Eurofound, UNICEF, UNESCO and the ETF, covering various geographical regions including the EU, the Balkan countries, Eastern Partnership countries, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Africa. Hanna also currently serves as the Deputy Scientific Coordinator of the Network of experts on the social dimension of education and training (NESET), and the European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE) – two key knowledge providers to the European Commission on various issues in education policy.

Greta has over 5 years of experience in policy research, evaluations, and technical assistance projects. Her main research interests and work at PPMI mainly focus on higher education, vocational education and training, research and innovation. Greta has also been leading the work on microcredentials - an emerging topic in education policy and practice. She has experience leading international, multi-method research and consulting assignments as well as applying various data collection and analysis methods. At PPMI, she has been involved in over 10 research projects  for the European Commission and EU agencies.

Milda has 4 years of experience in public policy research and technical assistance. At PPMI, she has worked with a number of clients, including the European Commission (DG EAC, DG TAXUD, DG REFORM, DG GROW, JRC) and EU agencies such as Cedefop and ETF. Her primary expertise lies in skills development and labour market policies, but academic interests also include family and disability policies. Milda has worked on a wide range of assignments, covering educational infrastructure, vocational education and training, adult education, lifelong learning, labour market segmentation, and public-private partnerships in skills development. She has extensive experience with applying various data collection methods, performing data analysis, and coordinating stakeholder and expert consultation activities. Since 2019, she has also been leading policy research assignments.

Ieva joined PPMI in 2019 after completing her PhD in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence. She has contributed to numerous studies in the areas of education, social, youth and regional policy for the European Commission and currently specialises in European higher education policy. With her strong academic background, Ieva is an expert in developing tailored qualitative and quantitative study methodologies and executing complex research assignments. She is also a researcher and lecturer in EU politics and policies at Vilnius university.

Katarzyna has over 10 years of expertise in educational project management. Her specialisation is in overseeing the development of e-learning materials and e-learning platforms for various educational levels.

As a Project Manager at PPMI, she liaises with clients, manages content expert teams, and explores new education and project management solutions to be used externally and internally. Prior to joining PPMI, she coordinated e-learning projects in Lithuania and was part of a team delivering an online school for Polish children abroad in the Center for the Development of Polish Education Abroad.