Mafalda Dâmaso is Researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam, which she originally joined in 2021 as Lecturer in Cultural Industries and Policy. Her research investigates the intersections between culture, policy, diversity management and international relations, with a particular focus of attention on the European Union’s transnational cultural policy. She is also interested in expanding current academic understanding of the links between culture, the economy, and development. Currently, Mafalda is EUR’s Principal Investigator on REBOOT (REviving, BOsting, Optimising and Transforming European Film Competitiveness), a project funded by Horizon Europe (2023-2026) and coordinated by the University of Vienna. REBOOT aims to connect the existing strengths of the European Film Industry, identify and overcome weaknesses, and plan for future competitiveness in the fields of policy, practice and experience. Mafalda is also working on an edited book about the European Union’s cultural policy for De Gruyter (expected in in 2024) and on a co-edited special issue for the International Journal of Cultural Policy (expected in 2025).

Areas of Expertise: EU cultural policy, cultural diplomacy/relations and public diplomacy, European film industry, geopolitics of culture

Previously, Mafalda was Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries Education in the Department of Culture, Media and Creative industries at King’s College London, and an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Visual Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London. She was also Visiting Lecturer in the Economic and Social Sciences Department of the Institut Catholique de Paris, and a Postdoctoral Research Assistant working on a project led by the University of the Arts London funded by the British government (DMCS and the UKRI). In 2019–2021, Mafalda was Research Fellow with the Centre on Public Diplomacy of the University of Southern California, where she led empirical research on the EU’s approach to culture in foreign affairs. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London.

As an educator, she has experience of teaching at BA and MA levels across a range of disciplines, including cultural policy, creative economy, creative economics, cultural management, cultural diplomacy, history of art, and research architecture. Her teaching method is guided by a problem-driven approach to the examination of current debates and broader issues, drawing on methods such as exercises based on real world problems, visual media analysis, and case studies encouraging critical reflection.

Beyond academia, Mafalda was the lead researcher on a project commissioned by the European Parliament leading to policy recommendations to strengthen the status of artists and cultural workers with Cultural Action Europe, the main European network of cultural organisations, artists and policymakers, and currently works as policy expert for the consortium CultureForHealth, which implements the Preparatory Action Bottom-Up Policy Development for Culture and Well-being in the EU. Mafalda also serves as Subject Matter Expert for the Canada Council for the Arts and as expert for the Latvian Council of Science. Finally, she is a member of the management committee of the International Cultural Relations Research Alliance, set by the British Council and the German Institute of Foreign Cultural Relations.