Mazzucato, V (Valentina)

Valentina Mazzucato is Professor of Globalisation & Development and she directs the research programme on Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development.

Her expertise is on migration studied from a transnational perspective. In particular she studies the effects of migration between Africa and Europe on migrants and their families and communities back home. Mazzucato has led 5 international, multi-year projects on transnational migration between Africa and Europe in which she collaborates with European and African universities.

She is Executive Board member of the Maastricht Center for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE). She is on the Steering Committee of NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development and a panel member of the ERC Advanced Grants.

Prof. Mazzucato received a prestigious ERC Consolidator grant for the project Mobility Trajectories of Young Lives: Transnational Youth in Global South and North (MO-TRAYL) which will run from 2017-2022.

Expertise

Migration studies; family sociology; anthropology; development economics; mixed methods; multi-sited research designs; migration and development; transnational families; Africa.

 

 

 

Career History

Valentina Mazzucato obtained a BA in Political Science and French Literature from Williams College in the USA. She went on to study Agricultural Economics at the MSc level at Michigan State University in the USA and obtained a PhD degree in 2000 from Wageningen Agricultural University (cum laude) from the Department of Tropical Agriculture on the social, cultural and economic dimensions of indigenous soil and water conservation technologies in Eastern Burkina Faso.

Since her PhD, Valentina Mazzucato has won 5 international grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), NORFACE, the European Research Council as lead scientist. Her grants have allowed her to build on transnational migration scholarship to develop an original approach for studying the linkages that are forged by migrants between their origin areas and where they move to or pass through. The simultaneous matched sample methodology she and her teams developed entail studying origin and destination locations at the same time, which allows a more fine-grained understanding of how migrants maintain the ties to their home countries and with what effects for those who stay behind.

Mazzucato joined the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in 2008 where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on theories of globalisation and development; transnational migration; and supervises Bachelor papers and Master theses related to those topics. She is also the leader of the research program on Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development. She is currently heading a university wide, inter-faculty initiative to start a new Bachelor program on Global Studies.

She has served on the 15-member international expert committee on migration and development research of the Social Science Research Council of the US. She also served on the World Connectors' Migration and Development group charged with brining issues related to migration to a broader public. She regularly gives keynote speeches in academic and policy-oriented events.

Before coming to Maastricht, Prof. Mazzucato lived and worked in and on Africa for over twenty years, focusing on West Africa (Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana). She has taught at a public secondary school in Merti, Kenya for a year.

You can view Prof. Mazzucato's inaugural lecture, held on 11 June 2010 at Maastricht University, entitled "Bridging boundaries: Transnationalism and migrants' lives in a globalizing world", on the You Tube channel of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

 

Downloads:

  • Mazzucato’s inaugural lecture summarises some of the main lessons and findings of her research on transnational migrant networks and flows

Research Profile

Valentina Mazzucato has headed 5 international research projects financed by the Dutch Scientific Organization (NWO), NORFACE, and the European Research Council. Through these grants, Mazzucato and her teams have developed an original approach for studying the linkages that are forged by migrants between their origin areas and the places they move to or pass through. The resulting simultaneous matched sample methodology entails studying origin and destination locations at the same time, which allows a more fine-grained understanding of how migrants maintain the ties to their home countries and with what effects for those who stay behind.


Her current project is the ERC Consolidator Grant funded project called Mobility Trajectories of Young Lives: Transnational Youth in Global South and North (MO-TRAYL) which will run from 2017-2022. In this project, Mazzucato and her team are investigating the effects of young people with migrant backgrounds traveling ‘home’ to their or their parents’ countries of origin in terms of how these trips shape their educational trajectories, aspirations for the future, and choices they make for what to do when they leave secondary school.
 


All of Valentina Mazzucato’s research focuses on transnational migration between Africa and Europe, looking at the economic and socio-cultural impacts of migration on migrants, migrant youth and their families and communities back home. Her work is characterized by team work, multi-sited research designs, and mixed methods which combine large survey work with in-depth ethnographies.
 


For more about Valentina Mazzucato’s research on migrant youth see this video clip and also her inaugural lecture held on June 11, 2010 entitled "Bridging boundaries: Transnationalism and migrants' lives in a globalizing world", on the You Tube channel of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
 


For information about her previous projects, see http://www.tcra.nl/ , http://www.ghanatransnet.org/ , http://www.mafeproject.com/ .

Teaching

Prof. Mazzucato helped develop and is currently teaching in the newly accredited MA Globalisation and Development Studies. She engages in the following:

  • Teaching the course ‘Transnational Migrant Networks and Flows’ which focuses on a transnational approach to the study of migrants in receiving countries, their ties with their home countries and relationships within transnational networks. The course also teaches about in-depth interview techniques through hands-on exercises and reflexivity in research through the analysis of migrant films.
  • Lecturing in the courses: ‘Research Methods in Globalisation and Development’; Globalisation and Poverty: A Connected World’; ‘Theories and Histories of Globalisation and Development’.
  • Supervising MA theses on the topic of migration.

  • Prof. Mazzucato is currently heading a university-wide inter-faculty initiative to develop a new interdisciplinary BSc in Global Studies.

 

Other

  • Teaching honours classes to groups of 5 students, each year on a different topic relating to transnational migration
  • Guest lecturing in various bachelor and master programs within Maastricht University
  • Supervising PhD candidates
  • Externally examining PhD candidates internationally and within the Netherlands.

 

Work for third parties

  • Advisory Board Member ERC project MigrationRhythms at PRIO-Norway
  • Ethics Advisor XS4ALLL Horizon Europe Project at Turin University

Other activities

 Academic Activities and Membership of Professional Bodies 

  • Scientific Advisory Council (Wetenschapelijk Raad van Advies) of the Africa Studies Centre, Leiden University (2014- present).
  • International Advisory Board member of VICI grant program ‘Migration Law as a Family Matter’ (2011-2016).
  • Committee member of the 2012 VENI grant Social Scientific Panel, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
  • Committee member of the 2011 VENI grant Social Scientific Panel, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
  • Article reviewer for Journal of Marriage and Family, Global Networks, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Geo Journal, TESG, Journal of Refugee Studies, Global Networks, Journal of Housing and Built Environment, African Affairs, Ageing and Society, Childhood, Ethnic and Racial Studies, History of the Family
  • Grant reviewer for the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO): ESR/MaGW and WOTRO
  • Grant reviewer for European Research Council
  • Grant reviewer for the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS)
  • Member of the Social Science Research Council of the United States expert committee (of a total of 15 members) (2007-2009).
  • Associate Faculty member of Princeton University, Center for Migration and Development (November 2005 to present).
  • Head of the “Transnational Links and Livelihoods Group”, an inter-university Dutch group of junior and senior researchers working on transnationalism (2004 to 2008).
  • Chair of the CERES graduate school Pathways Project group on Transnationalism (2002-2003).

 External Policy-related Roles 

  • Moderator at the public debate ‘Business development opportunities in developing countries and emerging economies: the role of government, business and education?’ with the Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation Ben Knapen, Maastricht, 07 November, 2011.
  • ‘Diasporas connecting development and integration’ at conference Connecting Diasporas for Homeland Engagement, organized by Diaspora Forum for Development and Oxfam Novib, Soesterberg, The Netherlands, 17-19 June, 2011.
  • ‘Circular migration: are there benefits for migrant origin countries?’ presented at the EU flagship conference of the Swedish presidency to the EU, ‘Labor Migration and its Development Potential in the Age of Mobility’, Malmo, October 15-16, 2009.
  • Advisor to HM Queen Beatrix on occasion of state visit of Ghanaian President to The Netherlands, October 21-23, 2008.
  • Expert meeting on migration and development, a 5-person meeting organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, December 20, 2007.
  • Co-organization of Development Practice and Research Network day on migration and development, December 21, 2007
  • Member of the special committee on migration and development of the World Connectors, headed by Ruud Lubbers December 2006- March 2007.
  • ‘Transnational networks: Migration and development between Ghana and the Netherlands’, keynote speech, NCDO Jaardag, Amsterdam, February 1, 2007.
  • ‘Understanding migrant remittances, savings and investments from a transnational perspective’, keynote speech at IntEnt conference on Entrepreneurial Decisions across Borders, The Hague, November 22, 2006.
  • Key note speech at colloquium organized by OCIV Migration et Développement, Brussels, May 27, 2005.
  • Invited speech: ‘International remittances in Ghana: What do we know and what can development agencies do?’ International expert meeting Bridging the Gap: International Migration and the Role of Migrants and their Remittances in Development, organized by Oxfam-Novib, Noordwijk aan Zee, November 19-20, 2004.
  • ‘Do informal insurance arrangements work in a transnational context?’ Lunch lecture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 17, 2005

Additional roles & tasks

Professor of Globalisation and Development