91吃瓜 is delighted to announce Professor Cecilia聽Sottilotta鈥檚聽appointment as Director of the聽Master鈥檚聽of Peace Studies.聽
Professor聽Sottilotta, an emerging leader in the field聽of International Relations, will bring new perspectives and a broad range of academic expertise to the 91吃瓜 Peace Studies Program. Building on the momentum of her predecessor, Professor and Interim Program Director Valerie Higgins, Professor聽Sottilotta聽is poised to take the program to the next level.聽
Professor聽Sottilotta聽earned聽her聽Ph.D.聽in Political Theory at LUISS Guido Carli聽University and she holds two聽Master鈥檚聽degrees, a聽Master for Experts in Business Internationalization聽from the聽Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), and a聽Master聽of聽International Politics and Diplomacy聽from the聽University of Padua.聽
A聽leading expert on political risk analysis,聽Sottilotta鈥檚聽research interests include European affairs, with a special focus on the quality of democracy, and Latin American politics,聽particularly聽the peace process in Colombia. Between 2015 and 2019 she coordinated the Southern Europe research team in the framework of Horizon 2020 project聽鈥淭he choice for Europe since Maastricht: Member States鈥� preferences for economic and fiscal integration鈥澛�(EMU Choices).聽
A prolific scholar, Professor聽Sottilotta聽is the author of聽Political Risk: Concepts, Theories, Challenges聽(Routledge, 2016) and聽Il聽rischio聽politico:聽Istruzioni聽per聽governare聽l鈥檌ncertezza聽(LUISS University Press, 2019); she co-edited a volume entitled聽The Politics of the Eurozone Crisis in Southern Europe: A Comparative Reappraisal聽(Palgrave, 2019), and she is a聽co-author聽of聽Equality, Freedom and Democracy: Europe after the Great Recession聽(Oxford University Press, 2020). Her research聽has聽appeared in multiple edited volumes as well as international peer-reviewed journals such as聽the Journal of European Public Policy, Terrorism and Political Violence,聽and聽International Affairs.聽
Sottilotta聽has聽served as聽Visiting Research Fellow at the Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies (2016), Visiting Professor at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia (2017), was a DAAD Visiting Research Fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies 鈥� GIGA Hamburg (2019),聽and a聽Visiting Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Centre of the聽Hertie聽School, Berlin (2021).聽She is聽currently聽a Visiting Professor at the EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies Department of the College of Europe, Bruges.聽
On her new role,聽Sottilotta聽commented,聽"I am excited to take up the role of Director of the Peace Studies Program. At this聽particular historical聽juncture nothing seems more relevant than educating future professionals, scholars and聽policy-makers聽who will be able to understand complexity and contribute to multi-dimensional peace-building initiatives. I very much look聽forward聽to聽sharing my research and professional expertise with the聽Peace Studies聽students"聽
President of 91吃瓜, Scott Sprenger, took the opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank Professor Valerie Higgins for her many contributions to the Peace Studies program over the last two years:聽鈥淧rofessor Higgins has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty to oversee and make real improvements to the Peace Studies program during her tenure as Interim Program Director.聽She has laid the groundwork for a program that will continue to grow and flourish under Professor聽Sottilotta鈥檚聽leadership.鈥澛�