Biography
Dr. Anca Minescu obtained her MSc degree in the Research Master on Migration, Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism, and her PhD degree at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.Her doctoral research took place at the Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) and at European Research Center on Migration and Ethnic Relations.In 2007, she was a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, at the Survey Research Center, and in 2008 she went to the University of Sussex, Department of Psychology for an internship. At the Graduate School of the Faculty of Social Sciences in Utrecht, she coordinated several workshops, international events and student exchanges, within the Trans-Atlantic Student Mobility Project in "Race, Ethnicity and Migration Studies" (EU-FIPSE).
She joined the In the Department of Psychology, at UL on the 1st of January 2010, and has been Assistant Dean International of the Education and Health Sciences Faculty from 2016-2023.
She set up and runs the Migration and Diversity Research Lab Group, meeting every Tuesday from 4-5 pm (please email Sanctuary.Psychology@ul.ie if you would like to join).
Dr. Anca Minescu is the European Academic Coordinator for Erasmus Mundus Master in Psychology of Global Mobility, Inclusion and Diversity in Society Global-MINDS. The program was brought to UL since 2021, and was awarder Erasmus Mundus funding of over 3.2 million Euro for the period 2022-2028 (4 cohorts of students).
Since UL's designation as a University of Sanctuary, Dr. Minescu led the development of the Sanctuary with Psychology Project. In March 2018, a trained group of volunteers started a range of activities providing social-psychological support for migrant groups, relevant training in intercultural competence and other related topics to those working with migrant communities, and linking our research activity with relevant stakeholders and policy makers. The current focus is also on creating an online source of documentation and awareness around issues of diversity, migration and inclusion.
Follow the Sanctuary with Psychology Project on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanctuarywithPsychology/
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/sanctuary-with-psychology-project
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanctuary_ul/
Email: Sanctuary.Psychology@ul.ie
In June 2019,forward to participate in the Wisdom Together Conference Engage, connect and create from the Inner Core!, Munich, Germany.
Dr. Minescu engaged with Bright Club Ireland to disseminate her research through comedy:
First in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN_UwiP2mPo
And in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKV06P8C8Lo
Research Interests
Dr. Anca Minescu works in the broad field of ethnic relations, looking at people's attitudes and interactions with members from different ethnic or political groups. She researches social and political change, migration, diversity and inclusion from a social-psychological and cross-cultural perspective, using different research methodologies to capture the interaction between social context and individuals. She wants to contribute to a better world by increasing intercultural competence and acceptance of diversity and reducing prejudice and marginalization.Dr. Minescu's main lines of research are:
- Cultural diversity and group-based prejudice. This covers a range of attitudes: from group stereotypes, to support for minority rights, and intercultural sensitivity and competence. Using a multiple group and multilevel approach, she investigates the effects of group power and relative status on individuals' intergroup attitudes and political goals.
- Group identities: What is it, how people construct their group identities and how the groups they belong to shape their worldviews. In particular, she researches the content of ethnic, national and other political identities (e.g., European, Asylum Seeker), the processes of identification and identity building with these groups. Group identities reflect complex interactions between social structure, national/political ideologies and the individuals involved.
- Political action and the sense of group position: Social and political changes in our societies are based on group mobilization and collective action. She is interested in the social-psychological processes that underlie engagement in political action, on behalf of groups and communities. The types and meanings of group identities and their effects on people's engagement with their ingroups and exclusion of outgroups are key processes in how we position ourselves in our societies and how we may participate in changing it.