Ester Sigillò

Ester Sigillò is Assistant professor at the University of Bologna. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Scuola Normale Superiore. Her PhD thesis, focused on the politicization of civil society actors in post-authoritarian Tunisia.  Her current research interests include EU's external relations in the MENA region, democratization, social movements and Islamic activism in the Maghreb. In the framework of her doctoral activities she served as visiting fellow at the Institut de recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC) in Tunis and as a research fellow in the ERC project TARICA. After her PhD she served as a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute at the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, under the supervision of Olivier Roy. From 2020 to 2022 she was a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC funded project BIT-ACT. She has published in the Third World Quarterly, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, among others. Her forthcoming monograph is titled: Rethinking Civil Society in Transition: International Donors, Associations and Politics in Tunisia (Amsterdam University Press).