Beatriz Padilla
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Alumnna
GRID Minor, 2001
PhD in Sociology, 2001
Current Position
My current position is Principal Investigator (which is at the same level that Associate Professor) at the Instituto Universitario de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) or in English, University Institute of Lisbon
Please give us an update on your life since graduating from Illinois.
After graduation, I worked for a year for the UIUC Extension Services (mainly in health and migration issues) and in 2002 I moved to Portugal. In Portugal I earned a Fellowship to carried out postdoctoral research on Brazilian Migration to Portugal, focusing on gender issues, actually I was the first researcher to bring to the discussion gender and migration in Portugal. Also, I complemented my research by teaching part-time in the University. In 2007 I took a position as Senior Adviser to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European, for the Health Ministry, to coordinate a report on Good Practices on Health and Migration. After that, I returned to the University as a Senior Research Fellow, after winning a 5 year very competitive contract. In 2013 I became Associate Professor at the University of Minho, and in 2016 I became Principal Investigator at ISCTE-IUL. I also coordinated the Master on International Migrations and taught Sociology of Gender, Family & Mobility and Contemporaty Migrations, among other relevant courese.
What is the focus of your current work and/or subject of your current research?
My current work as Principal Investigator at ISCTE-IUL is to conduct research in the field of migration, health, gender and inequalities. At present, I coordinate 3 main research projects, all funded by the European Union: a) One is about Multilevel Governance of Cultural Diversity in Comparative Perspective: Europe and Latin America (GOVDIV); b) “Understanding the practice and developing the concept of welfare bricolage (UPWEB)”, and c) REFUGIUM: BUILDING SHELTER CITIES AND A NEW WELCOMING CULTURE. LINKS BETWEEN EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS IN HUMAN RIGHTS.
How has your GRID minor helped you in your career?
I can say that I am faithful to my training in WGGP, as I always apply my gender/feminist view into my research, I teach it and use it in my academic and non-academic writing. I believe that my GRID minor contributed greatly to my training as a Sociologist and as a Feminist. Also, I am proud to say that in 2000 I was one of the first student to discuss with the Director of GRID to include as an interest in the program the issue of migrations in the US, given my experience with Latina women in the Mid-West, thus I am very happy to see how this initual propostal has been incorporated into the topics.
Do you have any advice or suggestions for current GRID Students?
Yes, do not even forget your training and try to use it and apply it always. It is possible even when you think it is not, and specially when you are not necessarily working on women/gender issues. Be faithful to GRID & WGGP.
How can we learn more about your work through social media?
http://beatrizpadilla.wordpress.com