Josep M. Fradera received a Ph.D. in History from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1983) and has been a professor of Modern History at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona since 1995. In addition to teaching at the latter university, he is also currently the coordinator of the GRIMSE (Research Group on Empires, Metropolis and Extra-European Societies) and co-director of the journal Illes i Imperis. He was an assistant researcher to professor John H. Elliott at the Historical School of the Institute for Advanced Studies (Princeton, USA) from 1987 to 1988. He was a visiting lecturer at the universities of Princeton and Chicago (USA) in 2006 and 2009. He was a visiting researcher at the University of New York (NYU) in 2004 and Harvard University in 1997 and 2000 at the Center for European Studies; and in 2010 and 2013. He is a researcher at the ICREA for the current five-year period for 2010 to 2014. He has published articles and book chapters in Catalan, Spanish, French, English and Portuguese. He has also been the sole author of the following publications: Indústria i mercat (Barcelona, Crítica, 1987) Cultura nacional en una societat dividida. Política i cultura a Catalunya, 1838-1868 (Barcelona, Curial, 1992) (Spanish translation, Madrid, Marcial Pons, 2003) Jaume Balmes. Els fonaments racionals d'una política catòlica (Vic, Eumo, 1995) Gobernar colonias(Barcelona, Península, 1999) Filipinas, la colonia más peculiar (La hacienda pública en la determinación de la política colonial, 1762-1868) (Madrid, CSIC, 1999) Colonias para después de un imperio (Barcelona, Bellaterra, 2005) La pàtria dels catalans(Història, política, cultura) (Barcelona, RBA, 2009) He has also co-edited the following publications: J. M. Fradera, Jesús Millan and Ramon Garrabou (eds.), Carlisme i moviments absolutistes (Vic, Eumo, 1990) J. M. Fradera, Jesús Millan (eds.), Las burguesías europeas del siglo XIX (Madrid, Biblioteca Nueva, 2000) J. M. Fradera, Enric Ucelay-DaCal (eds.), Noticia nova de Catalunya (Barcelona, CCCB, 2005) J. M. Fradera, Stephen Jacobson and Alfred W. McCoy (eds.), Endless Empire. Spain's Retreat, Europe's Eclipse, America's Decline, Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2012 J. M. Fradera, Christopher Schmidt-Nowara (eds.), Slavery and Abolition in the Spanish World, New York, Berghahn Books, 2013.