Joan-Pau Rubiés

Joan-Pau Rubiés is an ICREA Research Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) since 2012. He previously held senior academic positions at the London School of Economics (LSE) from 1999 to 2012, including Reader and Senior Lecturer roles in International History. Earlier, he was a lecturer at the University of Reading (1994–1999) and held postdoctoral fellowships at Queens’ College Cambridge and the European University Institute (Florence).

Educated at the University of Barcelona and King's College Cambridge (PhD, 1992), his research focuses on the history of cultural encounters, Iberian colonial empires, travel writing, and early modern Spain. He directs the international research project "Ethnographies, Cultural Encounters and Religious Missions" (ECERM) since 2014. His work bridges historiography, political thought, and cultural studies, particularly in Catalan and Aragon contexts.

Rubiés has authored/co-edited seven books and over 60 refereed articles, alongside organizing nine international conferences and delivering lectures worldwide. His awards include British Academy Senior Research Fellowships and prestigious visiting professorships at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and Marseille.

He remains active in collaborative research, emphasizing comparative cultural studies between Europe and Asia in the early modern period, with a focus on ethnography’s role in shaping global knowledge systems.