Academic Profile

I hold a PhD from Kings College London in European Law. My thesis has now been published as a monograph under the title The Long-Term Residence Status as a Subsidiary Form of EU Citizenship. An Analysis of Directive 2003/109 (Martinus Nijhoff, 2011). I also hold a degree in Law (Madrid), LLM in European Law (Stockholm) and DEA in Public International Law (Miami, Madrid). I have interned for the United Nations (New York) and the European Parliament (Brussels). I have also worked for the Spanish Embassy (Bogotá, Colombia), as an assistant researcher for the Miami European Union Centre (Miami) and the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (Stockholm) and as a visiting lecturer and tutor at Kings College and Birkbeck College (University of London). I have been invited by several universities to give talks on the subject of EU Migration Law and Policies. My current research looks at Migration legislation in different countries in Latin America. I have published widely in the area and I am currently involved in various research ventures such as the editing of a new three volume book on global migration issues. I also work as a freelance consultant for LexisNexis London.

Member of the Sheffield Centre for International and European Law Research Cluster.

Qualifications

• PhD, King's College University London
• LLM, Stockholm University.
• DEA, Autonoma University Madrid and Florida International University Miami.
• LLB, Autonoma University Madrid.

Teaching and Learning

My teaching reflects my own research interests on EU and, more in particular, EU Migration Law. I also teach Public International Law, an area on which I am currently researching on the International Criminal Court. I also teach Spanish and Comparative Law which relate to my interest on Spanish legislation and on comparing different legal systems around the globe. I always encourage students to link what they study in the seminars and lectures with current events through the use of newspaper articles and documentaries.

The modules I teach are:

Undergraduate	Postgraduate and MA
European Union Law	European Union Migration Law (Convenor)
Spanish Law and Legal System (Convenor)
Principles of Comparative Law
International Law I

Research Interests

• EU Law
• Immigration Law
• Public International Law

Key Publications

with E. Guild (2012 forthcoming), The Returns Directive. In S. Peers and E. Guild, EU Immigration and Asylum Law (third ed.), Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston.

Acosta, D. (2011) The Long-Term Residence Status as a Subsidiary Form of EU Citizenship. An Analysis of Directive 2003/109 (Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston)

Acosta, D. (2011) The Returns Directive: Possible Limits and Interpretation. In K.Zwaan (ed), The Returns Directive: Central Themes, Problem Issues, and Implementation in Selected Member States, Wolf Legal Publishers.

Acosta, D. (2011) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in EU Migration Law: Is the European Parliament Becoming Bad and Ugly? Adoption and First Stages in the Implementation of Directive 2008/115: The Returns Directive). In E. Guild, R. Cholewinski and P. Minderhoud (eds), Citizens and Third Country Nationals: Examining Ten Years of the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Martinus Nijhoff: Leiden/Boston; also available in European Journal of Migration and Law, 11, pp. 19-39.

Acosta, D. (2010) A Belief in the Purity of the Nation in Europe? Possible Dangers of its Influence in Migration Legislation. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism Journal, 10(2), 234-254.

Recent Invited Papers and Keynote Lectures

May 2011 EU Migration Policy and the EU-BRICs Relationship. Invited paper, European Studies Institute at MGIMO-University, Moscow, Russia.
Feb 2011 EU’s immigration Policy on the the Egypt and Tunisia crisis. Invited Lecture, University of Miami, USA.
Feb 2011 An Overview of the EU Returns Directive. Invited paper, Radbout University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Jan 2011 En attendant Godot or the EU Limits to Integration Conditions. Invited Lecture, King’s College London.
Dec 2010 Derecho Europeo de la Inmigración. Invited Lecture, University of Barcelona, Spain.
Apr 2010 The Implementation of the Returns Directive on Irregular Migrants, Invited Lecture, McGuill University, Montreal, Canada.

Professional Activities and Recognition

• Senior Research Fellow, IMPALA project, LSE, Harvard, Sydney, Amsterdam and Luxembourg universities.
• Visiting Fellow, Centre of European Law at King’s College London.
• Member of the Steering Committee, Migration and Law Network.
• Freelance Consultant Editor in EU Law, LexisNexis London.

Areas of Research Supervision

• EU Law
• Immigration Law
• Public International Law