Dr. Cristina Blanco Sío-López is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Senior Global Fellow and Principal Investigator (PI) of the EU Horizon 2020 research project ‘Navigating Schengen: Historical Challenges and Potentialities of the EU’s Free Movement of Persons, 1985-2015’ (NAVSCHEN) at the European Studies Center (ESC) – EU Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence (JMEUCE) of the University of Pittsburgh (2019-2021) and at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. She previously was Assistant Professor in European Culture and Politics at the University of Groningen and ‘Santander’ Senior Fellow in Iberian and European Studies at the European Studies Centre (ESC) – St. Antony’s College of the University of Oxford, where she remains a Senior Member.

 She is Executive Committee Member of the Global Young Academy (GYA), Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) and Full Member of the Young Academy of Spain. She was Chair of the North America Chapter of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) in 2020-2021, which received the ‘Best Non-European Chapter Award 2020’ by the MCAA.

 She obtained her PhD in History and Civilization (European Integration History) at the European University Institute of Florence (EUI) and received the FAEY Best PhD Thesis ‘European Research and Mobility’ Award in 2008.