People
Prof. Bruce Wilson is Director of the European Union Centre of Excellence at RMIT. He leads research and debate on EU-Australian relations, place-based innovation systems and regional development, and shares advice on building partnerships between Australian organisations and their European counterparts. He has published extensively and presented at EU forums on Smart Specialisation, placed-based innovation and sustainability, and is co-editor of the Australasian Journal of Regional Studies .
Prof. Wilson was also a founding Co-Director of Pascal (Place, Social Capital and Learning) International Observatory and a member of the Advisory Board and Committee of the Hume Global Learning Village. He has extensive experience in working with all levels of government on organisational and social change, and is committed to linking researchers and policy makers with city and regional governments on social and economic policy, innovation, lifelong learning and environmental policy.
Contact:
E: bruce.wilson@rmit.edu.au
T: +61 3 9925 0873
@BruceWilson18
Visit Bruce’s RMIT Staff Page.
Emma joined the EU Centre of Excellence in the Social and Global Studies Centre in June 2018. A historian by training, passionate about how history might help us think about building a different future. Emma’s research focuses on the history of international relations, and particularly Australia's relationships with the United States and the European Union. Her first book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, was published by Hardie Grant in 2021. Emma is a regular, sought-after commentator on international relations in the Australian media. She writes regularly for outlets such as The Conversation and the Sydney Morning Herald, and hosts RMIT’s popular history and politics podcast, Barely Gettin' By. In both 2020 and 2021, she was named RMIT University Media Commentator of the year. As a Lecturer with the EU Centre, Emma works on projects focused on the international context of regional climate transition in Australia. She is a member of research teams working with the Victorian Government on forestry transition, and with state and local government on the implementation of a circular economy. Emma is also a named Chief Investigator on the Jean Monnet Network on ‘Social and Scientific Innovation to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,’ funded by the European Commission’s Jean Monnet Activities Program. Before joining RMIT, Emma was a Fox-Zucker International Fellow at Yale University. She completed her PhD in History at the University of Melbourne in 2019, and has a Master’s Degree in International and European Studies from Monash University.
Contact:
E: emma.shortis@rmit.edu.au
@EmmaShortis
Visit Emma’s RMIT Staff Page
Maren originally trained as a secondary teacher. She has worked in secondary education, retraining and language education and as university lecturer, teaching English, German, German as a foreign language, social studies, and European studies in Germany and Australia. She has worked in education policy development with a focus on initial teacher education; in education program and assessment development; assessment and examination project coordination; and in higher education compliance and regulation functions. Her PhD explored mobility in/from the Global North. Her current research interests include the European Union as a global actor; multilevel governance; mobility and migration; education; and contemporary German politics, society and culture.
Contact:
Rimi holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney and is currently working for the RMIT European Centre of Excellence where he is coordinating an EU funded project on multi-level governance. He has been researching and publishing extensively on the role of the European Union (EU) and other regional and international powers in the Western Balkans. His recent book (Xhaferi P., Brunazzo M., and Mascitelli B., 2022) The road to the European Union: Albania and the Italian “partner”, analyses the rocky road of Albania and other Western Balkan countries, the role of Italy and specifically the EU enlargement policy. Rimi has extensive experience working in the Australian education regulatory environment. He is an active member of the European Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand (ESAANZ).
Contact:
E: rimi.xhaferi@rmit.edu.au
L: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perparim-rimi-xhaferi-phd-503a2944/
Bruno Mascitelli is an Honorary Professor at RMIT University and has been active in the European Studies environment for some time. An academic at Swinburne University and holder of a Jean Monnet Chair (2016-2019), Bruno was President of the European Studies Association from 2004 until 2021. He has published widely on European and Italian political economy and is a co-author of his latest book The road to the European Union: Albania and the Italian “partner".
Contact:
Riccardo completed a PhD in Social Sciences at Swinburne University and has over a decade of research experience. He is a qualitative researcher with expertise in participatory and mixed-methods research, and is highly skilled in conducting ethnography, in-depth interviews, focus group, and workshops in Europe and in Australia. His research interests lie at the intersection of transnational human mobility, particularly applied to vulnerable minority groups, contemporary debates about the effects and legacies of colonialism on policy-making, and theoretical and ideological approaches to cultural diversity and social justice. Riccardo has published three books and over 30 scientific papers. Riccardo’s experience spans the Government, NGO, and Academic sectors.
Contact:
E: riccardo.armillei2@rmit.edu.au
M: +61 430 330 908
Irini joined the European Union Centre in 2022 as an administrative support officer and research assistant after completing her Honours degree in International Studies at RMIT. Her research interests include sovereignty theory and legitimacy, state formation and supranational entities, comparative political systems, nationalism and conservativism in Europe and the United States, and judicial interpretation of US constitutional law. Irini’s Honours research challenged the paradigm of divided state sovereignty within the US federalist system; her thesis was titled “Federalism’s Conceit: Dual Sovereignty and the Constitutional Conflict Behind the US Civil War”.
Contact:
School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
RMIT University
GPO Box 2476
MELBOURNE VIC 3001
Australia
Email: eucentre@rmit.edu.au
Fax: +61 3 9925 8220
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.