Biography
Kiril Sharapov is Associate Professor at the School of Applies Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University. He is a founding convenor of the Migration and Mobilities Research Network. He is a member of the AHRC and ESRC Peer Review Colleges and a member of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Panel. In 2009, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Previously, he was an Associate Director at the ESRC's Scottish Graduate School for Social Sciences (2020-2023) and University Head of Research (Research Student Recruitment) at Edinburgh Napier University (2021-2022). He has a MA (Human Rights) from Central European University and PhD (Politics), University of Glasgow.
Kiril is Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA).
Kiril played a key role in the University’s REF2021 submission. As the UoA20 Lead, he coordinated the University's first-ever submission for this Unit. He contributed five outputs, with 83% of the 23 outputs submitted under this Unit achieving a 3* or 4* rating. Furthermore, Kiril was a named author on one of the two submitted case studies, both of which attained rankings of 3* and 4*.
In 2021/22, Kiril led leading a GCRF/AHRC funded project investigating the impact of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities in Ukraine, including internally displaced persons with disabilities. He was also a member of the two research teams investigating the impact on the pandemic on refugees and asylum-seekers in Scotland.
Kiril is internationally recognised for his research in the field of forced migration and, in particular, human trafficking, as evidenced by his top-ranking publications, extensive research portfolio, academic standing and international reputation. In addition, he has been championing and mentoring early career researches both in the UK and internationally.
Kiril remains both an advocate and a practitioner of co-produced participatory and emancipatory research which blends 'traditional' social science methodology and more innovative arts-based research engagements to develop and deliver research which meaningfully incorporates voices of seldom heard communities, including persons with disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers, sex workers and persons with lived experiences of human trafficking.
In 2015 – 2016, Kiril was Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Bedfordshire, Programme Director of the Professional Doctorate in Children and Young People's Service, associated member of the International Centre: Researching Child Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking, and a full member of the Institute of Applied Social Research.
In 2013-2014, Kiril led a research project investigating public understanding of human trafficking in three European countries. This research was funded by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship awarded by the European Commission (FP7-PEOPLE-IEF / PIEF-GA-2011-298401, evaluated/ ranked as Number 1 on the all-European Social Science panel application list).
Kiril welcomes expressions of interest for Doctoral Supervision in areas such as:
- Migration and mobility with a particular focus on human rights, trafficking in human beings and 'modern slavery', forced migration, free and unfree labour
- Subjectivity, politics and neoliberalism
- Environmental degradation and social divisions
Any potential candidates please send your expressions of interest to: k.sharapov@napier.ac.uk