Dr. Helena Carrapico is currently a Newton International Fellow at the University of Dundee, United Kingdom. Prior to her current position, she was a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Previous professional positions were also held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, James Madison University, and the Portuguese Ministry of Defense.
She holds a doctoral degree in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute (Florence), where she developed her thesis on EU organized crime policies. Her Master’s Degree was also related to Justice and Home Affairs, having focused on immigration from Central and Eastern Europe to Portugal. Helena Carrapico was a visiting fellow at the DG. Justice, Liberty and Security of the European Commission, in 2007, and at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in 2008.
Helena Carrapico’s current research focuses on the United Kingdom’s opt-in and opt-out strategies in the area of Justice and Home Affairs, and on the reasoning behind the United Kingdom’s model of selective participation in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Other areas of research include the external dimension of Justice and Home Affairs and European Union organised crime policies. Her broader interests comprise Critical Security Studies.