Dr Seila Panizzolo is an LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology at the Department of Methodology, where she focuses and teaches on Research Design in International Relations and Qualitative Methods. 
She shares her experience after returning from a short visit in Florence where she spent time with Prof Michael Bauer at the European University Institute’s School of Transnational Governance. ↓
What is the focus of your research and what attracted you to this area of research?
I am interested in how International Organisations use decentralisation at the country and regional levels to respond to pressing humanitarian and migration challenges. I also look at what their choice to be located somewhere tells us about International Organisations’ relations with a host country.
This perspective offers a bottom-up understanding of how these large bureaucracies work and respond to crises, but also generates case studies that inform broader theories of International Relations and Global Governance in new ways. In turn, these cases and the data on them help me advance qualitative and interpretivist methodologies, especially document and visual analyses.
Why did you choose to go to the European University Institute (EUI) and what did you work on during your visit?
I had been wanting to visit EUI for quite some time. As an institute at the core of social science research in the European Union, I was curious about how my disciplinary and empirical foci were organised across all its units. Some senior colleagues who have been influential in my work and whom I had previously met at conferences are also currently at EUI, which is home to a vibrant and emerging community of young scholars. Plus, I was wrapping up a paper that is part of a broader project, where I compare a cluster of international organisations in Latin America and Asia-Pacific...
Could you tell us how this visit fits with your current research project?
The article looks at a former military complex in Panama. Initially repurposed just into a space to promote education and culture in the country, today it is also the largest hub of international organisations in Latin America. The EUI felt like the right place to circulate the manuscript for feedback, as well as discuss the direction of the broader research agenda I am developing and for future collaborative projects.
How do you hope your project will contribute to better society and policy outcomes?
International Organisations, ranging from the UN system to major International NGOs, are entangled with local and regional actors through a dense system of operations with a longstanding, capillary field presence. This dynamic is particularly important in the governance of migration flows, which in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, as elsewhere, continuously challenge political hierarchies and spark societal debates.
Regionally and locally, migration governance relies on a bureaucratic system that is often invisible or unintelligible when viewed from afar. For International Organisations currently undergoing deep reforms, their funders, and the public, my research offers granular evaluations of the feasibility and desirability of profound future change.
What is your main take away from your time at EUI?
The EUI was a step forward in developing my academic network, learning from senior scholars and sharing strategies and visions with early-career researchers like me.
At the Institute, I experienced firsthand a research-intensive space that promotes candid, exploratory, yet timely conversations and is a model we should see more of moving forward.
I knew my academic host, Prof Bauer, prior to the visit, and this was hugely helpful in ensuring a productive stay, that expert eye and feedback on the project I was presenting, and a window into the EUI academic community.
Do you have any advice for people thinking about applying?
I would say to anybody who is thinking about applying for a CIVICA short stay to build on similar existing synergies to identify the right institution. I also think the experience could be totally exploratory. After all, a short faculty visit is like a teaser that leaves you wanting more. I am already thinking about my next EUI visit!
Photo credits: LSE