Lorena, a College Research Fellow, on the exciting news of her grant and her commitment to the impact of COVID-19
Dr Lorena Gazzotti, shown above after a day of fieldwork in small Moroccan city, summer 2019, is a Lucy Cavendish Alice Tong Sze Research Fellow, based at CRASSH during the period of her Fellowship.
Earlier in the year Lorena was awarded £3000 from the Society for Libyan Studies as a pilot grant. She said:
"I am very grateful for this award. The sum granted will allow me to conduct initial fieldwork for this project and expand my research programme on border containment at the edges of Europe."
Following the successful pilot, Lorena has received a further £3000 grant from the Royal Geographical Society and says:
"I am extremely grateful for the grant awarded by the Jasmin Leila Award and Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). When I applied for this grant, the scenario that we are experiencing now was beyond unimaginable. The complete closure of borders and the implementation of lockdown measures around the world have questioned the way states have been providing care for the vulnerable, including unaccompanied and separated children, and how this impacts society at large. When travel bans will be lifted and research conditions will be safe again, social scientists will have the duty to record and interpret the new world that will unfold from the COVID19 crisis, and I will be happy to contribute my bit in the effort".
About Dr Lorena Gazzotti
Lorena is a Lucy Cavendish Alice Tong Sze Research Fellow and will be based at CRASSH during the period of her Fellowship. She obtained her PhD in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge in 2019. Before Cambridge, Lorena completed a BA and MA in Foreign Languages at the University of Bologna, where she benefitted from the financial and pastoral support of the Collegio Superiore. She held visiting positions at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and at the Centre Jacques Berque pour les Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Rabat. During her studies, she has also worked as a seasonal agricultural worker, as an ice-cream vendor, as an administrative assistant, and as a research consultant at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Publications:
Gazzotti, L., 2019, Deaths, Borders, and the Exception: Humanitarianism at the Spanish–Moroccan Border, American Behavioral Scientist, Special issue on Deaths at the borders: Revisiting the debate in the light of the Euro-Mediterranean crisis. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219882990
Gazzotti, Lorena, 2018, From irregular emigration to radicalisation? Fragile borders, securitised development and the governance of Moroccan youth. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Gazzotti, Lorena, 2017, Local governance, civil society and migrants’ support to local development: perspectives from Morocco, in Lacroix, Thomas and Desille, Amandine (eds.), International Migrations and Local Governance: A Global Perspective, Palgrave MacMillan