Valerio Simoni

Background

About Valerio Simoni

I am scholar of transnational mobility, with over twenty years of research experience in disciplinary and interdisciplinary institutions across Europe. Thematically, my work brings together international migration and tourism to illuminate the expectations, encounters, and inequalities these global forms of mobility generate. My main regions of expertise are Latin America and Southern Europe, with a focus on the cross-border connections between Cuba and Spain. As Principal Investigator of a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, during the past five years I have consolidated my research independence and team management skills. The project “Returning to a Better Place: The (Re)assessment of the 'Good Life' in Times of Crisis” (ERC STG), contributes to the study of 1) morality, ethics and what counts as "good life", 2) economic practice, its value regimes, and “crises” 3) migratory aspirations, projects, and trajectories. A keen communicator, I have built extensive academic networks across the Americas and Europe, where I led the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Anthropology and Mobility Network (2014-2018). The reach of my outputs is reflected in an award-winning monograph, and over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Linking different scholarly traditions I develop novel theoretical approaches that are responsive to and withstand the test of my empirical findings. The lived experiences and concerns of the people I work with inform my investigations, which have been funded by British, Swiss, Portuguese, and EU institutions. I began teaching in both disciplinary and interdisciplinary programmes over a decade ago, with experience in designing and delivering courses in Portuguese, French, and English at BA, MA, and PhD level as well as for continuous education and lifelong-learning programmes, including the (co)supervision of over thirty MA and PhD theses. My teaching addressed topics in research design and ethnographic writing; intimacy, gender and sexuality; ethics and morality; the politics of culture, identity, and heritage; critical approaches to mobility and migration; tourism and hospitality. Since 2019, I am Academic Supervisor in the Interdisciplinary Applied Research Projects programme on Mobilities, Migrations and Boundaries, partnering with International Organizations and NGOs (e.g. IOM, ILO, OHCHR, ITC, WFP, UNJIU, UNWTO, Save the Children, UNI Global Union), and mentoring students in policy-relevant, UN SDG informed research.