I am Serra Húnter Associate Professor of Political Theory and Coordinator of the MA in Political Philosophy at the Department of Social and Political Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona. I am also Coordinator of the Social and Political Theory Research Group at UPF and co-founder of the Barcelona Network for Critical Thought and Social Research, which connects researchers across disciplines and institutions.

My research focuses on critical theory, contemporary political thought, political theory and the arts, populism, and religious studies. I hold degrees in philosophy and political science and completed my PhD on rhetoric and democratic theory at the European University Institute (supervisors: P. Wagner and A. Honneth). Before joining UPF, I taught at universities in Bucharest, Florence, and Dublin. (Download full CV)

My work follows the interdisciplinary tradition of critical theory, combining political theory with the social sciences and the arts. My research interests include:

  • Political Theory & Critical Theory
  • Varieties of Populism & Religious Studies (with a focus on Eastern & Southern Europe)
  • Political Theory & the Arts (film and literature)

I welcome MA and PhD students working in these fields ([email protected]). 

Ongoing Projects

  • 2023-2026 Principal Investigator (with M. de Beistegui) Pathologies of Capitalist Societies and the Rise of Authoritarianism: A Philosophical-Literary Approach to Ustopias (2023-2026), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 FEDER, UE.
  • 2025-2026 Research Partner, REDES: Red de estudios sobre la diversidad religiosa (Leader: Maria del Mar Griera Llonch, UAB)
  • 2025-2026: Researcher, Democratic Citizenship in Post-Truth Societies, EUTOPIA (Leader: C. Mihali).
  • 2024-2026 Researcher, PNRR grant Doing Environmental (In)justice: A Theory in Praxis – EcoJust (project ID: 760077/23.05.2023), led by I. Velicu
  • 2024-2025 Principal Investigator AI for Democratic Education, PlaClick, UPF

Publications 2025 (selective)

  • Ungureanu, C. 2025. “Kafka in the Balkans: Before the Law, Nihilism, and Crisis in Cristi Puiu's Aurora.” In V. Becci, A. Katsiginis, & E. Van Daalen (Eds.), Law and Film Routledge, 119-134. Link
  • Ungureanu, C. 2025. “Cristi Puiu and Vladimir Solovyov: evil, death, and crisis in Malmkrog”, in Angelaki: Journal of Th. Hum., 3. Link
  • Maleeva, G. and Ungureanu, C. 2025. “Biological Imagination, Critical Environmentalism, and Anthropocene in Annihilation”. In K. Paszkiewicz & A.
  • Ruthven (Eds.), Cinema of/for the Anthropocene Routledge  Link
  • Bradatan, C. and Ungureanu, C. 2025. “Crisis as a Way of Life.” Angelaki: J. of Th Hum 3 Link
  • Ungureanu, C. and C. Zografos. 2025. “Environmental justice, green sacrifice, and crisis of masculinity”, Environmental Hum (forth.)