Educational background

Monika holds a European Joint MA in Anthropology (2010, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, IE; Université Lumière Lyon II, FR; Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, ES) concluded with a 900/1000 first class honours, and a BA in Anthropological Sciences (2007, University of Bologna, IT), concluded summa cum laude.

Continuing professional development in parallel to her employment outside of academia prior to her Phd, Monika pursued additional vocational trainings: a diploma in "mental health and psychosocial support in context of disasters and violence (2009-10, Universidad Computense de Madrid/GAC) and for "Conflict Mediators – Peace Operators" (2012-14, Italy), as well as short trainings, for example in civil-military cooperation (2013, MNCG).

Current: PhD candidate in Cultural and Global Criminology 

Since September 2016 Monika Weissensteiner pursues a joint Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology (DCGC) and PhD research at the Universities of Utrecht (NL) and Hamburg (DE). The first semester of her joint doctoral programme she spent at the coordinating partner-university, the University of Kent (UK). Monika took part in the Doctoral Workshop "Border management, Security, Migration and Refugee-Protection. The EU and its Mediterranean fringe", organised by the French School at Athens, December 2016, and in the two week training in "Advanced Qualitative and Legal Methods" at Utrecht University, summer 2017. 

During the second year of her studies she took up the possibility forseen in the DCGC programme to carry out an internship in the field of her PhD project. Interested in EU JHA Agencies and in training, she pursued an internship at CEPOL, the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training. Her placement was at the Training and Research Unit, where she worked with the team responsible for carrying out assessment and analysis of current law enforcement training needs (for example, the STNA).

In the wintersemester 2018/2019 she taught a seminar "international organised crime" for a 3rd year criminology BA course at Utrecht Law School. She has submitted her dissertation in October 2020.

Scientific illustration and art

Monika enjoys to draw and to promote visual forms of representation, also of academic work: see for example her illustration in support of the research project "On the Ongoing Appeal and Socio-technical (Re-)Configuration of Lie Detection" (2017) by Hamburg University, or her front cover for a special issue of the Irish Journal of Anthropology (2011) dedicated to ethnographic writing. For an illustrated book review, see Illustrated book review of “Bodies as Evidence. Security, Knowledge, and Power” (eds. Maguire, Rao, Zurawski 2018) see here and here. 

Related to her PhD research, she has forthcomming the book-chapter "BORDER-STRIP: a border-criminology ethnography", composed by three full page images and a short text. In the latter she argues that drawing enables  to think through, to analyse and to represent research and, taking her own drawings as example, she discusses the added value of visuals and graphic storytelling for cultural and global criminology.

Past employment

Between her MA and PhD, Monika has worked in the 3rd sector (youth, development cooperation, migration) as NGO coordinator (3 years) and project officer (1+), and was also engaged as research assistant in institutional anthropology (2012/13) and as external consultant on EU law and asylum policy (2015) for projects carried out by researchers at the Free University of Bolzano (IT).

In parallel, Monika has been an instructor and workshop facilitator in vocational professional training programs for public health care professionals, social workers, teachers and occasionally journalists (in the fields of medical anthropology, intercultural competencies and conflict mediation, as well as on migration and international protection). She also carried out workshops on current global issues with students in schools, and in higher education (e.g. BA, MA), she has occasionally been invited as guest lecturer.

Past research

In 2013/14 Monika has carried out a qualitative study on civil-military interactions, focusing on (NATO) CIMIC, through the experiences and perceptions of military and NGO personnel deployed in Afghanistan (2013-14).

As research assistant at the Free University of Bolzano, she provided support to the Research Project "Articulating Social-Cultural “Diversity” in Institutions: An Anthropological Study", carried out by Prof. Dorothy Zinn and Dr. Elisabeth Tauber (2012-2014).

For her MA anthropology degree Monika has investigated the production of medico-legal evidence of torture and trauma and its use for the purpose of substantiating asylum applications in different EU countries, and analysed relevant developments within the category of "vulnerable persons" of the “Common European Asylum System” (CEAS) policy. The research resulted in her MA thesis (Weissensteiner, 2010) "Torture Evidence on Trial: (missing) scars, "innocent scars", invisible wounds. Anthropological Reflections on the Documentation of Fear and Violence in European Asylum Procedures" (supervision: Dr. Mark Maguire, NUIM; Dr. Dan Rodríguez-García, UAB) and two publications: (2015) "Expert Translations of Torture and Trauma: A Multisited Ethnography", in D. Zinn and E. Tauber (edit) The Public Value of Anthropology. Engaging Critical Social Issues Through Ethnography, Free University Press of Bolzano, Italy; (2010) "Borders and Borderlands: A Common European Asylum System", in Ricardo Zapata- Barrero (edit) Migrations and Borders in the European Union, GRITIM-CIDOB, Barcelona, Spain.

Memberships

Since 2010 member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists; interested/active in the following EASA networks: PACSA (Peace and Conflict Studies), ASN (Anthropology of Security Network, co-convenor since 2018), Anthropology of Law, Rights and Governance (LAW NET).

Awards

• Erasmus+ Fellowship (E+EMJD), financed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission - 2016
• Ilse Waldthaler Award for Civil Courage and Social Responsibility - 2016
• MA Studentship for merit, N.U.I.M., Ireland - 2007/08, 2008/09
• Student merit Award from the Province of Bolzano, Italy - 2003, 2007
• Two awards for illustrations: 3rd place in Italian comic contest "pencils for peace" (2011); short-listed and awarded special recognition for the artwork of two submissions to the International Anthropology Cartoon Contest, by the Royal Anthropological Institute's Education Outreach Programme (2009)