Alba
Colombo Vilarrasa

I am an associate professor and researcher at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona. I have a PhD in Social Sciences (2012, University of Girona (UdG)) and a master's degree in Information and Communication Society (2009, UOC), in addition to completing a postgraduate programme in Culture Management (2008, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF)). My main research areas involve the sociology of culture, festivals and events. I have recently turned my focus to the critical analysis of the contemporary significance of cultural events, such as traditional and popular festivals, as social and cultural expressions, spaces of resistance, and platforms for advocating cultural equality rights. In my research, I observe the transformative social capacity of cultural expressions such as festivals and events, and their trends amidst uncertain times. My current research pursuits include analysing participation in contemporary events (as cultural activities) in the frame of traditional and popular culture in Spain, and measuring the intangible cultural and social impacts of events and festivals and rethinking processes and methodologies for assessing them. I have more than five years’ experience leading Spanish and European research projects and have participated as a researcher in seven high-quality competitive projects, publishing more than twenty papers on the topic of festivals, cultural practices and culture management. I have taken part in several European event and festival research projects such as the Art Festivals and the European Public Culture (FP7) and the European Festival Research Project coordinated by the European Festival Association. From 2019 to 2022 I was principal investigator of the Barcelona-based research team working on Festival, Events and Inclusive Public Space in Europe (FESTSPACE), a Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) funded research project. I am also involved in a number of Spanish national projects such as Y, financed by the Spanish government under the State Programme for the Promotion of Scientific and Technical Research of Excellence. In my academic career I have received two distinctions: the Sant Jordi Modest Reixach Prize from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans in 2021 and a special award for the most outstanding PhD at the University of Girona, with cum laude distinction, in 2014. I was also a 2022 Emerald Literati Award winner for my article "Staging city events in public spaces: an urban design perspective".