Cristina Sin

Cristina Sin serves as an Assistant Professor at Lusófona University in Porto and an integrated researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Education and Development since 2022. She holds a PhD in Education from Lancaster University (UK, 2012) and brings extensive experience from prior roles at the Portuguese Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES, 2017-2022) and the Center for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES, 2012-2017).

Her educational journey commenced with a PhD in Education from Lancaster University, UK (2012). Prior to doctoral studies, she managed teaching and learning improvement projects at the UK's Higher Education Academy starting in 2005.

Dr. Sin's research critically examines European higher education policy frameworks like the Bologna Process, with specialized focus on international student mobility, equity, academic inbreeding, and quality assurance. Her work investigates Portugal's position as a semi-peripheral destination for international students, analyzing recruitment strategies, integration challenges, and pandemic impacts on mobility patterns. She consistently addresses structural inequalities in access and outcomes while exploring how geopolitical shifts affect academic openness.

Recent publications reveal evolving research trajectories examining academic inbreeding dynamics in Portugal, the disruptive effects of Covid-19 on mobility flows, and integration mechanisms for international students in less attractive destinations. Her comparative studies of Norway, Poland, and Portugal highlight context-specific internationalization challenges in non-traditional destinations.

Dr. Sin has secured competitive funding including an Edulog-Fundação Belmiro de Azevedo project mapping Portugal's international student population and advising the Erasmus+ National Agency on program evaluation. She actively shapes scholarly discourse as Associate Editor of the European Journal of Higher Education since 2021 and through participation in COST Actions addressing international student mobility and geopolitical challenges to academic openness.

She contributes to two major COST Actions: CA20115 (European Network on International Student Mobility) and CA22121 (Rising Nationalisms, Shifting Geopolitics and Future of European Higher Education Openness), fostering transnational collaboration on critical mobility and policy challenges.