Management and Cooperation

From 1 May 2025 I am acting prorector, responsible for leading the work on Roskilde University's research and innovation strategy. The ambition is to secure and promote research quality at Roskilde University by ensuring a clear strategic direction, increased private and public funding and strong collaborations with foundations and external partnerships.  

I have extensive experience in both Danish and international research. I have been a member of the European Research Council for a number of years, with leading roles in scientific panels in the social sciences and humanities. I have also been a member of the Research Council for Society and Business for the past six years. I have previous management experience from The American University of Rome, where I was Head of the Department of International Relations.

Research

I am Professor of Global Political Sociology, a subject area I have helped to develop at RUC, including through the founding of the research group ‘Global Political Sociology’ at the Department of Social Sciences and Business. I have published books with recognised publishers such as Cambridge and Oxford University Press, and over 60 articles in leading international journals in sociology, anthropology, history, philosophy, and politics. I apply my interdisciplinary approach to thematic areas such as religion and politics, cultural and political dimensions of globalisation, nationalism, identity and memory politics, urban studies, social and political theory. My empirical research has had a particular focus on Italy and Southern Europe.

Teaching

I supervise projects and theses at Sam. Bach. and in Social Science and Global and Development Studies. I take the students' ideas and interests as my starting point and go with them into the spaces that open up in the learning process. I consider the collaboration with students in the project supervision as closely related to the research process (about my approach to learning, see https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/dansksociologi/article/view/7315/7555). 
I teach a wide range of courses related to my research interests: philosophy of science, religion and politics, social movements, sociological diagnoses of society, ethnography, and fieldwork. I am the coordinator for Sociology at the social science bachelor's programme at RUC, where I teach the Basic Course in Sociology.

Public dissemination

Communicating to a wider audience is an important part of my work. I have been a regular writer for Kristeligt Dagblad since 2014, where I have a column focusing on global value debates. I disseminate research to international and Danish media such as Huffington Post, Public Seminar, Altinget, Weekendavisen. I collaborate with the Danish press on current topics, especially Italian politics and culture, and Catholicism and the Catholic Church in Denmark and the world.