Joana Ricarte is an integrated researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CEIS20) and guest assistant professor of Cultural Heritage and Museology at the Faculty of Humanities and Arts (FLUC), both at the University of Coimbra. A historian and political scientist with expertise in identity and conflict studies, her work has been interdisciplinary, in the intersection between International Relations, History, European Studies, Political Psychology and Sociology. She is the author of The Impact of Protracted Peace Processes on Identities in Conflict: the case of Israel and Palestine (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023), team member and coordinator of several research projects funded by national and international programmes, including Principal Investigator at OppAttune: Countering Oppositional Political Extremism through Attuned Dialogue: Track, Attune, Limit (Horizon Europe, 2023-2026), funded by the European Commission.
The international projection of Dr. Ricarte''s work has been translated into a vast network and collaborations with other institutions. She is currently an Associate Researcher at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies (CCP) of the International Relations Research Group (NUPRI) of the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil; collaborator researcher at the University of Coimbra''s Institute for Legal Research (UCILeR); Advisory Board Member of the Organisation for Identity and Cultural Development (OICD), in the UK; and elected Governing Board Member of the European International Studies Association (EISA). Her previous positions include Invited Assistant Professor in the Department Sociology, MA program in International Relations, at the University of Beira Interior (UBI); Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research (UCILeR), at the Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS) of the University of Minho and at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CEIS20) of the University of Coimbra.
Dr. Ricarte''s research interests include critical perspectives on identity building, peace, violence(s) and conflict, particularly in the European context and the Middle East, as well as interpretative research, post-positivism and qualitative methodology. Her overall work has sought to explain how dynamics of identity, power and otherness shape protracted social conflicts in both domestic and International levels and how these are related with the maintenance and perpetuation of conflict through time. Her current work has been revolving around concepts/themes such as protracted peace processes, othering and dehumanisation, everyday extremism and ontological (in)security.