Image © Juan Genovés

The European Studies Centre Santander Conference 2018

This conference aims to examine the historical, legal and socio-political implications of the idea and implementation of a ‘free movement of persons’ as part of the European integration process. The Spanish case is explored as part of a larger comparative analysis on belonging and displacement in a ‘Europe in the making’.

In order to do so, we will discuss intellectual history legacies, social integration initiatives and comparative regional integration proposals in this realm. What are the evolving modes of exclusion in transnational mobility in Europe and beyond? How can historical critiques be relevant to today’s challenges to free movement of persons? What are the neglected solidarity and diversity dimensions of European integration? In this light, can we articulate responses to humanitarian dilemmas beyond security-centred conceptions of transnational mobility? And normatively, are narratives on ‘shared values’ in the EU and beyond, sufficient to mediate countervailing factors of exclusion?

For more information and to register to attend, please email: european.studies@sant.ox.ac.uk

Dr. Cristina Blanco Sío-López is Santander Fellow in Iberian and European Studies at the European Studies Centre, St. Antony’s College of the University of Oxford, where she works on a research project dedicated to the History of the EU’s Free Movement of Persons. She is also Associate Established Researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History (IHC) – New University of Lisbon, European Commission Expert at the EU Research Executive Agency (REA) and Full Member – 2017 Laureate of the Global Young Academy (GYA). She was recently Visiting Lecturer at the University of Lille and at the University of Perugia, where she taught on the History of the EU’s Free Movement of Persons. She was also Scholar in Residence at the Jean Monnet EU Center of Excellence (JMEUCE) of the University of Pittsburgh and Invited Expert at Shanghai University -上海大学. She previously worked as Established Researcher in European Studies and Principal Investigator at the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe – University of Luxembourg, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) and the US Congress. She was also Section Chair for the European International Studies Association (EISA), Salzburg Global Seminar Lecturer and EUI Global Governance Programme Network Member. She holds a PhD in History and Civilization from the European University Institute (EUI) and her research and publications focus on European Integration History —with an accent on enlargement policy temporalities and the Schengen area fundamental rights, Global Governance, Comparative Regional Integration and Digital Humanities.