Associate ProfessorLucia Sorbera

Dr Lucia Sorbera has played a sustained leadership role within the School of Languages and Cultures since 2014, serving as Chair of the Discipline of Arabic Language and Cultures and contributing to school‑wide academic governance as a member of the School Leadership Team throughout this period. Her service has also included shaping international engagement and student mobility as Exchange Coordinator since 2014, and overseeing the renewal and accreditation of undergraduate teaching programs as Undergraduate Curriculum Coordinator. In 2025, she was appointed Associate Head (Research Education) within the School, and in the same year joined the Academic Board, where she contributes to University‑level governance, quality assurance, and strategy.

Her professional service extends across multiple international academic communities. She has acted as judge for key disciplinary awards, including the Best PhD Thesis in African Studies for the Italian Society of African Studies in 2022 and the Best MA and Honours Thesis in Middle East and Islamic Gender Studies for the Italian Society of Women Historians in 2022 and 2025, and previously served as judge for the BRISMES Best PhD Thesis in Middle East Studies in 2021. Her evaluative expertise is regularly sought by major research bodies, most notably as assessor for the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme in 2024, and as an expert reviewer for the Italian Ministry for University and Research for both the PRIN Program and the Rita Levi Montalcini Program for Young Researchers in 2023. Since 2018, she has also served as an expert reviewer for the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO).

Her editorial contributions reflect long‑standing engagement in shaping scholarly debates in Middle East and gender studies. She is Co‑Editor of Third Space for the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (since 2022), and serves on the editorial and advisory boards of ArabLit (since 2023), Protests (since 2021), and the Women and Gender History series of the Italian Society of Women Historians (since 2011). These roles sit alongside extensive peer‑review activity for leading journals in Middle East studies, gender studies, and modern history, as well as manuscript review for major academic publishers including Bloomsbury, IB Tauris, University of California Press, Rowman & Littlefield International, Routledge, and Palgrave.

Her commitment to community engagement and public scholarship is reflected in her collaboration with cultural and research institutions. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Community Media Advocacy Program in Port Harcourt and London (since 2019), and was a longstanding member of the editorial board of the Fondazione Circolo dei Lettori in Turin, where she also acted as Guest Editor for the International Torino Book Fair between 2016 and 2023.

She maintains active membership in several professional societies, including the Association of Middle East Women’s and Gender Studies (since 2018), the Middle East Studies Association of North America (since 2014), and the Italian Society of Women Historians—where she served on the Academic Board of the Summer School between 2009 and 2025. She has also been an active member of the Italian Society of Middle East Studies (SeSaMO) since 2006, contributing to the Academic Board (2011–2017) and participating in the organisation of the Society’s conferences in Milan (2011), Pavia (2013), Venice (2015), and Catania (2016).