Profile picture of dr. Cristina Blanco Sío-López

Affiliation: Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, IT; Young Academy of Spain / Academia Joven de España (AJE), ES; Global Young Academy (GYA)

Keywords: European Contemporary History, European Integration History, European Studies, International Relations, EU Enlargement, Mobility, Migration and Human Rights, Free Movement of Persons, Spanish Contemporary History, Transitions to Democracy, EU Politics, Comparative Regional Integration, Temporalities, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), History of Concepts, Global History of the Present, Digital Humanities

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Cristina Blanco Sío-López is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Senior Global Fellow and Principal Investigator (PI) of the EU Horizon 2020 research project ‘Navigating Schengen: Historical Challenges and Potentialities of the EU’s Free Movement of Persons, 1985-2015’ (NAVSCHEN) —European Commission Grant Agreement (GA) No: 841201— at the European Studies Center (ESC) — EU Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence (JMEUCE) of the University of Pittsburgh (2019-2021) and at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice from 2021.  The EU H-2020 NAVSCHEN project will produce the first dedicated historical analysis of all worldwide available primary sources on the transnational roots, debates and conditions for the implementation of the European Union (EU)’s free movement of persons (FMP) as a fundamental Human Right to have rights.

She previously was Assistant Professor in European Culture and Politics at the University of Groningen and ‘Santander’ Senior Fellow in Iberian and European Studies at the European Studies Centre (ESC) – St. Antony’s College of the University of Oxford, where she remains a Senior Member.

She is Member of the Executive Committee of the Global Young Academy (GYA), where she holds the ‘Strategic Partnerships’ and the ‘Visibility and Impact’ Portfolio and directs the ‘Global Passport for Scholars’ (GPS) Initiative. She is also Co-Leader of the GYA project ‘The COVID-19 Pandemic and Art’ and is part of the research team awarded with the ‘Sasha Kagansky’ Interdisciplinary Grant 2021/22  for the GYA project ‘The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Personal Experiences of Global Young Researchers’. Furthermore, she is a Full Member (Académica de Número) of the Young Academy of Spain / Academia Joven de España (AJE), where she represents the field of History. 

She is currently UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab (IPL) Expert and Moderator of the UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab (IPL) Team ‘Historical Legacies of Free Movement and Migration Policy-Making’, as well as Expert on the ‘Global Compact for Migration’ for the United Nations Network on Migration and Editorial Board Member of the Rights and Science Journal (R&S), ISSN: 2531-1352. She was Chair of the North America Chapter of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) in 2020-2021, which received the ‘Best Non-European Chapter Award 2020’ by the MCAA.

She received the 2018-2019 Council for European Studies (CES) – IMSISS Senior Visiting Fellowship Award at the University of Glasgow to work on Human Mobility Rights and European Integration. In 2019 she was ‘Oxford Centre for Economic and Social History’ Invited Lecturer on ‘The Solidarity Principle and the EU’s Free Movement of Persons’ at St. Hilda’s College, University of Oxford and ‘Law, Justice and Society’ Invited Lecturer at Wolfson College, Oxford.

Dr. Blanco Sío-López is also Leading Associate Researcher R4 at the Institute of Contemporary History (IHC) — New University of Lisbon and was a Senior Lecturer on ‘Qualitative Approaches to Human Mobility and European Integration’ for the EU Science Hub Evidence-informed policymaking – European Commission – Joint Research Centre (JRC) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. In 2017 she was ‘Jean Monnet EUCE – ULS’ Research Scholar in Residence at the ESC – University of Pittsburgh and Invited Expert at Shanghai University – 上海大学

Word cloud of research interests of dr. Cristina Blanco Sío-López

She previously worked as Principal Investigator (PI), Lecturer and Leading Researcher R4 in European Studies at the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe – University of Luxembourg (2009-2015). She also worked as Experienced Researcher R3 at the Robert Schuman for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) in Florence (2006-2009), as well as at the DG Enlargement of the European Commission and at the European Parliament in Brussels and at the US Congress in Washington, D. C. She completed an astronaut training traineeship at the NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, US.

Dr. Blanco Sío-López was also Invited Expert in European Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science – LSE (2013 and 2016); the Yale Law School (2016); All Souls College, University of Oxford (2016 and 2019) and at the Faculty of Law and the Sydney Sussex and Darwin Colleges (POLIS) of the University of Cambridge (2014, 2016 and 2017). She was Section Chair for the European International Studies Association (EISA), Salzburg Global Seminar Lecturer and EUI Global Governance Program Network Member.

She obtained her PhD in History and Civilization (European Integration History) at the European University Institute of Florence (EUI). Her thesis, ‘The Illusion of Neutral Time: Myths and Perceptions of the process of Eastward Enlargement of the EU, 1990-2004’, focused on EU enlargement policy temporalities and on the effects of the instilment of transitional time perceptions by the European Commission’s Communication Policy on Eastward enlargement. She approached this subject by means of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), relying upon extensive transnational archival consultations and Oral History interviews with the key players of this the game changing process at the end of the Cold War. Her thesis was recognized with the FAEY’s ‘Helmut Kohl – Charles V’ Best PhD Thesis European Research and Mobility Award in 2008.

She also expresses her research results via the visual arts (painting exhibitions, etc.) and via the empowering expression of poetry. Indeed, she received the Oxford German Society Poetry Award 2020 at the University of Oxford for her poem ‘Velvet with a Spark’, recognizing her work in intertwining research and verses as part of an empowering continuum.

In short, Dr. Blanco Sío-López coordinated and participated in numerous international research projects, conferences and peer-reviewed publications in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Her research and publications focus on European Integration History —with an accent on EU enlargement policy temporalities and the Schengen Area fundamental rights— Global Governance, Comparative Regional Integration and Digital Humanities.