Inequalities, social exclusion and social justice

I am passionate about social justice, and my work aims towards contributing to equality and just social development. From a normative point of view, social justice is an important driver of my research. During my last year as an undergrad student of Politics I did a placement at the Department of Social Policy in the city council of Valencia, what opened my mind to concepts as co-development and social exclusion, which became the focus of my research in the following years, first as a Master student and later as PhD student.

Most of my research focuses on social justice issues with a territorial perspective. A substantial portion of my work has involved researching social exclusion processes in rural areas. My PhD thesis extended a comparative study on the role of local councils in tackling social exclusion in rural areas. I have also participated in two research projects (one European and one local) about the development of social exclusion and the effects of the crisis in rural Spain.

• PhD in Local Development and International Cooperation. University of Valencia, 2016. Thesis: El papel de los ayuntamientos frente a los procesos de exclusión en el medio rural. Estudio cualitativo comparativo en la Comunitat Valenciana. Available at: http://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/55262

Selected projects:

• INSERT-RURAL – Redes sociales e innovación social: factores y estrategias de resiliencia frente a la pobreza y la exclusion social en los jovenes y las mujeres del medio rural valenciano, Generalitat Valenciana. (2017-2019; role: Researacher)
• SIMRA – Social innovation in marginalised rural areas, European Commission Horizon 2020 project (2016-2020; role: Research Associate)
• Impact of the crisis in social exclusion in rural areas in Albacete (Spain) (2013-2014; funded by Albacete Provincial Council; role: Researcher)
• TIPSE – Territorial dimension of poverty and social exclusion in Europe, ESPON 2013; (2012-2014; role: Research Assistant)

My publications reflect on social exclusion and poverty in rural areas, trying to unveil the drivers of such processes –with special attention to gender inequalities- and exploring the strategies in place to tackle them, with particular attention to social innovation and social policies.
Selected papers:

• Vercher, N., Escribano Pizarro, J., & Valero, D. E. 2019. Models de vida femenins en el medi rural. Un cas d’estudi a la Sierra del Segura (Albacete). Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica, 65 (1), pp. 139-161.
• Kluvánková, T., Brnkaláaková, S., Špaček, M., Slee, B., Nijnik, M., Valero, D. E., Miller, D., Bryce, R., Kosová, M., Polman, N., Szabo, T. & Gežík, V. 2018. Understanding social innovation for the well-being of forest-dependent communities: A preliminary theoretical framework, Forest Policy and Economics, 97, pp. 163-174.
• Valero, D.E, & Perez-Cosin, J.V. 2018. Los retos estratégicos de la política social local en tiempos de incertidumbre: Especial atención a los pequeños municipios. In M. R. Herrera-Gutierrez (Ed), Políticas públicas en tiempos de incertidumbre: aportes para una agenda de investigación. Valencia. Ed. Tirant lo Blanch, pp. 207-222.
• Escribano, J., & Valero, D. E. 2018. La dimensión rural-territorial en los procesos de exclusión social. In Anuario 2018 Agricultura Familiar en España. Fundación de Estudios Rurales. pp. 92-97
• Valero, D. E., Escribano Pizarro, J., & Perez-Cosin, J. V. 2017. Municipal perceptions and approaches to social exclusion in Spanish rural areas during the crisis. In K. Svels (Ed.), Proceedings of the XXVII European Society for Rural Sociology Congress: Uneven processes of Rural Change: On Diversity, Knowledge and Justice (pp. 109-110). Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow.
• Pérez-Cosín, J.V., Valero, D. E. Territorio y exclusión social. La lógica pública en el desarrollo de barrios frágiles o sensibles. In Pitarch, M.D. (ed.), Estructura, vida y gobierno en territorios complejos. El área metropolitana de Valencia. Valencia. Ed. Tirant humanidades, pp. 475-490.
• Valero, D. E., Escribano, J., Vercher, N. 2016. Social policies addressing social exclusion in rural areas of Spain and Portugal: the main post-crisis transformational trends. Sociologia e Politiche Sociali, vol 19, no. 3, pp. 83-101
• Escribano, J., Valero, D. E., Serrano, J. J., Esparcia, J. 2015. La vulnérabilité des femmes espagnoles en milieu rural par temps de crise économique, Pour no. 225, pp. 91-97.
• Valero, D. E. (2015). Exclusión social y desarrollo rural. In Uceda-Maza, X. et al. (ed.): Ponencias y comunicaciones I Jornada Internacional El futuro de los servicios sociales en contexto de cambio. Gessin, pp. 134-136
• Escribano, J., Valero, D. E., Esparcia, J., Serrano, J.J. (2015). The renewed role of family and other traditional responses to face social vulnerabilities in Spanish rural areas: the case of SACAM (Albacete). In XXVI European Society for Rural Sociology Congress, Places of possibility? Rural Societies in a Neoliberal World, On-line proceedings. pp. 199-200.
• De Lima, P., Valero, D. E. Case study report: La Manchuela. In TIPSE, The Territorial Dimension of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Europe. EU-ESPON.

I also worked as a lecturer at the Department of Social Work and Social Services at the Univesity of Valencia when I was a PhD student, being module leader in ‘Ideologies and social welfare’ (2013-2014 and 2014-2015). This module provided the students with knowledge about what ideologies are, which are the most significant ideologies in the Western world and what is their approach to social welfare.