Dr Víctor Hugo Ramírez García, Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
Research updates, insights and future plans
Meet the researcher
Profile: Dr Víctor Hugo Ramírez García
Project title: A political sociology approach to parental authority in European family governance
Start date: September 2023
End date: August 2025
School: School of Geography, Politics and Sociology
What will your research seek to do?
Spurred by recent conflicts between parental rights and children’s rights that have been taken to the European Court of Human Rights, my research analyses the role and effects of European institutions on family governance.
It conducts an empirical document-based study on two major sources. The first one is European Union regulations on family issues. The second one is case law of the European Court of Human Rights on sexuality issues.
Combining a feminist approach with a political sociology perspective on European law, my project aims to:
- Develop a new theoretical approach that can examine the effects of various European institutions’ decisions and policies regarding family and parental authority on the parent-child power relation.
- Identify the multiple and concrete effects of the studied transformations both on national and international contexts (such as the European Commission’ proposal for the mutual recognition of parenthood in all EU member states).
These cases bring to light the questioning of long-standing social hierarchies and distinctions, such as:
- parental hierarchy with regards to their children
- legitimation of sexual difference
- the state role to intervene in family policies
How have you found your first year?
The first year of the project has been very productive. I conducted field work in Strasbourg and Brussels, interviewing officials from European institutions:
- the European Commission
- the European Parliament
- the EU Council
- the European Court of human rights
I also presented results at six international conferences in Switzerland, Greece, France, Belgium, Ireland and Italy, and shared results in international media (French broadcasting TV and EUradio).
Spurred by recent conflicts between parental rights and children rights that have been taken to the European Court of Human Rights, my research analyses the role and effects of European institutions on family governance
What have you got planned for the year ahead?
In the year ahead, I will focus on processing the data collected during fieldwork.
Several publications are planned, along with an international workshop on the future of Gender and LGBT policies in the EU. This workshop will take place in Newcastle and will bring together international experts to share research.
Now that you have started your Fellowship, what advice would you give to someone starting something similar?
I would advise to plan very well for the fellowship and to be open to new ideas and contributions from colleagues. Enjoy not only academic life, but also university life in Newcastle, which is full of very interesting and nice people.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA)
Dr Víctor Hugo Ramírez García is supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) as a European Postdoctoral Researcher.
The flagship MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships allow researchers to acquire new skills and develop their careers through international mobility across different disciplines and sectors. The fellowships involve a research project, advanced training and knowledge exchange at a host institution.
For more information about the MSCA, please visit the MSCA website.
