Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Grant (MSCA) Fellow to join Loughborough University London

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Grants enable and encourage individuals to work in other countries with the MSCA making the whole world a learning environment. They encourage collaboration and the sharing of ideas between different industrial sectors and research disciplines – all to the benefit of the wider European economy. MSCA also back initiatives that break down barriers between academia, industry, and business. In addition, they reach out to the public with events that promote the value of science.

Dr Breazu will be joining the Loughborough University London research team and will be based in the Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance (IDIG). He will undertake this research under the supervisor of Dr Aidan McGarry, Reader in International Politics, whose research focuses on the political voice of minority and marginalised communities, particularly Roma across Central and Eastern Europe. According to the EU, Roma communities who number 10-12 million across Europe, are the most vulnerable and persecuted minority group in Europe with everyday racism impacting on their capacity to access health, education and employment. This racism has spiked in recent years since the rise of populism and is acutely manifest in Sweden and UK media.

The title of Dr Breazu’s research project is: Rompahobia in the Age of Populism: A Comparative Analysis of UK and Swedish Media. Dr Breazu’s research focuses primarily on discourse and racism and engages in qualitative research especially Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis. This innovative research will explore how racism against Roma (or ‘Romaphobia’) is articulated in covert and overt ways across diverse media (including press, television and social media) in text and visual imagery. This research is imperative in order to understand the complex and powerful ways that structures of oppression are built. As a further step, this research will explore the agency of Roma communities and how Roma communities challenge racism in the media.

Dr Aidan McGarry said:

‘It is really exciting to welcome Petre to Loughborough London to work on this important research. I’m confident it will have a positive impact. The MSCA is one of the most prestigious research fellowships in Europe and I am delighted that he chose to work with us’.

Dr Petre Breazu said:

‘I feel honoured and humbled to have been awarded Europe’s most competitive research Fellowship. I look forward to embarking on this new journey and joining the outstanding team at Loughborough London. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to work with Dr McGarry, on such a timely and relevant research project’.

Dr Breazu will start at Loughborough University London on 1 June 2021.

To read more about our research within the Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance, please visit this webpage.