Eugenia Roussou (PhD, UCL, University of London, 2010) is the Principal Investigator of ReSpell and currently a Senior Researcher at the Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia (CRIA-Iscte/In2Past). She has rich scholarly knowledge on the social scientific study of (transnational) religion, spirituality, well-being and healing, especially in the crisis context of Southern Europe, with particular reference to Portugal and Greece. She has research design and leadership experience, having completed two postdoctoral research projects, funded by FCT, on relevant research themes: a) (2011-14) ‘Religious Boundaries in Transcendence: “New Age”, Pluralism and Spiritual Creativity in contemporary Lisbon’; b) (2014-17) ‘Religion in/of crisis: pluralism, spiritual creativity and healing in Portugal and Greece’. As a full-time researcher at CRIA, her current project is about: ‘Transnational Religiosity in southern Europe: an anthropological exploration of spiritual fluidity, creativity and transformation in a changing world.’

Eugenia is and one of the main coordinators of NAR (Network for the Anthropology of Religion, CRIA), being responsible for the organization of seminars, conferences and roundtables. She is on the editorial board of international peer-reviewed journals (e.g. Religion and Society, Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change, Shaman) and on the executive board and/or member of international academic associations (e.g. ISARS, HEAL, CRAFT).

Her research focuses on the social scientific - and anthropological, more specifically - study of religion and spirituality, transnational religiosity, vernacular religion, New Age and/or alternative spirituality, religious pluralism, ritual healing practices, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), well-being, transreligiosity, spiritual elasticity, and religious materiality, with particular comparative geographical reference to Portugal and Greece.

She has published extensively in peer-reviewed international journals, on subjects directly related to the project. Selected publications include:

1. Her monograph: (2021) Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion: The Evil Eye in Greece. London: Bloomsbury.
2. Peer-reviewed articles, such as: (2021) ‘Transnational Spirituality and Healing: an Ethnographic Exploration of Alternative Medicine in Lisbon and Athens.’ Anthropology and Medicine 28 (4): 493-507; (2022) ‘Fado, Spirituality and Healing: Sensing, Performing and Embodying Emotion in Lisbon, Portugal.’ Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia 62: 69-90; (2022) ‘We Have Always Been Transreligious: An Introduction to Transreligiosity.’ Social Compass 69(4): 614-630 (with A. Panagiotopoulos).
3. Edited Special Issues, such as: (2022) ‘Transreligious Shamanism(s): Exploring Contemporary Spiritual Practices and Healing.’ Shaman 30(1 & 2): 5-138 (co-editor: A. Panagiotopoulos); and (2023) ‘Spiritual Elasticity and Crisis: Fron Non-Religiosity to Transreligiosity’. Religions. (co-editors: Silvia Rivadossi and Anastasios Panagiotopoulos).
4. Book chapters, such as: (2017) The Syncretic Religioscape of contemporary Greece and Portugal: a comparative approach on creativity through spiritual synthesis,’ in S. Palmisano and N. Pannofino (eds.), Invention of Tradition and Syncretism in Contemporary Religions: Sacred Creativity. New York: Palgrave McMillan, pp. 155-175; (2018) ‘Spiritual movements in times of crisis: an anthropological account of alternative spirituality in Portugal and Greece,’ in G. Chryssides (ed.), Minority Religions in Europe and the Middle East: mapping and monitoring. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 52-64; (2023). ‘Encountering Other Worlds through “Transreligiosity”: A Comparative Account of Healing, Embodiment and Transformation in the Field’, in E. .Pierini, Emily, A. Groisman and D. Espírito Santo (eds.),Other Worlds, Other Bodies: Embodied Epistemologies and Ethnographies of Healing, New York: Berghahn, pp. 133-152 (with A. Panagiotopoulos).