Rodrigo Cruz

Rodrigo Cruz is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London. He is also a scientific collaborator at the Ateliêr Genre(s) et Sexualité(s), Université Libre de Bruxelles, and the Centro Interdisciplinar de Ciências Sociais (CICS.NOVA), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

He holds a PhD in Sociology (2023, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa) for his thesis on right-wing LGBTQ+ activism in Brazil (2013–2020), funded by FCT Portugal. He also earned an MA in Social Sciences (2017, Universidade Federal de São Paulo).

His research focuses on political sociology, social movements (LGBTQ+, feminist, and right-wing movements), digital sociology (online activism), and intersections with decolonial studies, sociology of culture, and European politics. His work explores how right-wing LGBTQ+ activists navigate political identities, the historical roots of Brazilian homosexual movements in electoral politics (1978–1982), and the cultural resistance in peripheral spaces like Belém's Bailes da Saudade.

Notable trends in his publications include:

• Analysis of right-wing queer activism in Brazil (2021–2023)
• Triangulation of digital ethnography and empirical data
• Historical reconstruction of social movement institutionalization (1982 elections)
• Critical engagement with anti-gender mobilizations (2020)
• Debates on hybrid cultural narratives in postmodern media (2020)

Scientific Awards:

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship

He has collaborated with civil society organizations on LGBTQ+ issues in Brazil and Europe, using multilevel perspectives combining political sociology, dispositional analysis, and cultural studies. His upcoming work includes a book chapter on dispositional pluralism in activist engagement (2025) and research on collective identity negotiation in digital spaces.