The rise of political extremes, mostly right-leaning, is the most important European development of the 21st century due to its potential to undermine the continent’s integrity and security. One of the contexts in which such political extremes originate, develop, and thrive is among a group of football fans known as ultras. Ultras have become the most spectacular form of football fandom, showcasing violence, politics, masculinity, and a fervent support of the club. Beyond the stadium, ultras also engage in other types of activism , which can threaten the fabric of European societies. Although the link between ultra membership and participation in other social movements has been established, there is a lack of understanding of the drivers and pathways between the two, particularly when it comes to the transition from football violence to political violence. ULTRA-VIOLENCE positions the Researcher to identify relationships between a) micro-, meso, and macro-level processes (ultras’ social networks, structural contexts of violence, different forms of deprivation, interactions with the authorities and security agendas) that shape individual pathways through the ultra world, b) the different types of activism carried out by ultras in Portugal; and c) the instances where ultra violence crosses over to politically motivated violence. Understanding these relationships will enhance national and international academic and policy understandings of ultra life courses and inform measures and approaches aimed at reducing ultra violence and politically motivated violence perpetrated by organisations and individuals holding extreme political views connected to the ultra world. It will also highlight strategies to shift ultra behaviour towards activism beneficial to society. ULTRA-VIOLENCE builds on and expands the Researcher's and Supervisor's previous work, connecting critical peace and conflict studies and feminist scholarship through the intersectionality of peace approach.

ECOFEMINDI investigates the relations between women and nonhuman world, importance of traditional ecological knowledge that women possess in indigenous societies and how this knowledge affects the role of women, their status and prestige in the household and the society they live in. After decades of discussions about nature/culture dichotomy and the dominant role of humans on nature and other nonhuman persons, today ecofeminists agree that there is also a parellel between the domination of nature and exploitation of women. Meanwhile, in the middle of environmental conflicts, political ontology discuss the need for pluriverse as a possibility instead of dualism of human and animals in Western world, taking indigenous ideas about their geography that involves nonhumans and master spirits more seriously. Siberia and Amazon regions often host the base for theoretical discussions about animism and nonhuman persons in literature. However, the gender perspective of these ontologies is hardly mentioned and this caused the human-environment relations being described rarely through the lens of critical feminist anthropology. Ecofem.indi aims to go beyond the literature that depict women only as victims of environmental degradation and asks if in societies where the separation of nature from the human world is not that strict, such as some indigenous societies, does this automatically assign women who are associated with nature to a higher status ? And secondly, do women have a different ontological perception about nonhuman world, beyond their subsistence roles? Ecofem.indi’s design is grounded in empirical and interdisciplinary research crosscutting the fields of environmental anthropology and gender to understand the dynamics of relations between women and nonhuman world. In order to answer the research questions, the project will use qualitative research methods of social anthropology in two indigenous communities in Amazons and Siberia with a participatory methodology.

The rising housing cost overburden rate, increasing house prices and rising rents in the EU, and lack of access to affordable/ adequate/ quality housing has increasingly become a major concern for low- and middle-income groups and vulnerable communities. As a response to this on-going crisis, the last two decades have witnessed a shift and re-emergence towards several forms of decentralisation, co-creation, and participative planning in housing in Europe, often referred together as forms of collaborative housing (CoH). Despite these prevalent forms that are typically driven with the need of affordability and social inclusion, the challenges around housing continue to increase (eg. Migration, gentrification, ageing population) leading to greater socio-demographic issues (social exclusion of vulnerable groups, socio-economic segregation, displacement in rental housing markets etc.), and making it a chronic crisis. But, lack of verifiable systematic and quantitative evidence is a major barrier and does little to support the potential of these CoH forms in mitigating the issues. The knowledge around participation in CoH or its impact remains qualitative and fragmented, compromising a comprehensive understanding of the actual social value brought by them in terms of how they are capable to address the changing dynamics of housing in Europe with ongoing and emerging issues. Thereby, SOLVE-H proposes a clear structure to develop an evidence-based index, enabling to map of social value of participation and capture the social impact of collaborative trends in housing. The project addresses the social complexity project through mixed-method approaches from interdisciplinary disciplines (eg. sociology, citizen science). The main objectives are to: understand the social value of participation in CoH enable evidence-based quantification of social value of participation in CoH localise the developed social value index and facilitate its application for CoH in Europe

Democracy and citizens’ political engagement have been long-lasting policy goals of the European Union’s standards and values. The European Commission has established a new push for democracy as one of its priorities for 2019-2024, intending to foster democratic governance and civic participation. However, these objectives are challenging in light of transnational repression and the lack of policy tools for migrant protection in host societies across Western democracies, the primary recipients of human rights defenders. The E.U. has overlooked the rapid change in more vibrant forms of migrant political activism and how authoritarian governments control their diasporas abroad. There is a knowledge gap in understanding transnational repression’s gendered effects on receiving countries’ political environment. WomenACT-REPinHOST advances global discussions on migrants’ rights by analysing Latin American women activists’ practices of resistance to transnational authoritarian rule. It also discusses how they could be best supported by international organisations and host countries’ democratic institutions. The proposed action aims at enhancing three career objectives: acquiring scientific and transferable skills in Gender Studies and Psychosocial Research (short-term); securing a permanent academic position in the E.U. (mid-term) and; developing an independent career path as a gender consultant in human rights international organisations (long-term). These objectives will be accomplished through an individually tailored research and career development plan. The methodology includes a literature review and fieldwork research based on in-depth interviews, online non-participant observation and focus groups with LAC female activists and organisations in the U.S. and Spain. It also focuses on dissemination strategies to target scholars, practitioners and wide audiences with deliverables such as peer-reviewed articles, conferences, podcasts, and policy briefs.

The TOURSUS-EU proposal is designed to contribute to the definition of and the transition to a more sustainable model of tourism, which is one of the major issues of the EU. As a highly interdisciplinary project, TOURSUS-EU intends to introduce a new approach to measuring the impact of mass tourism on the economy and society, by analyzing data from important tourist destinations listed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites (Venice, Lisbon and Split). The proposal relies on the use of state-of-the-art knowledge and state-of-the-art analytical methods (Dynamic Panel Models, time series analysis, MultiCriteria Decision Analysis and Big Data Analysis) in order to develop an innovative structured approach for the assessment and improvement in tourism sustainability. In particular, the project will allow for the quantitative evaluation of the effects of various factors on the negative developments in tourism sector, as well as the assessment of the sustainable growth in tourism that will take into account the negative effects that mass tourism generates. The expected results will be beneficial for both the scientific and the local community and will have an impact on the formation of management practices within tourist destinations, potentially to be adopted in other regions and tourist destinations in Europe and worldwide. The realization of the project TOURSUS-EU will be a turning point in my career. Considering BRU Iscte is a recognized multidisciplinary research center with Researches Excellence, I firmly believe that the proposed cooperation and TOURSUS-EU will open up the best future career possibilities for me. It will significantly help me to increase my expertise in the application of new relevant techniques in the field of sustainable tourism, allowing me to grow as an independent researcher.