Dr. Emma Cohen de Lara (PhD University of Notre Dame) is senior lecturer in political theory and tutor at Amsterdam University College, and research fellow in the Political Science department of VU University Amsterdam, and senior research fellow at the Civic Humanism Center for Character and Professional Ethics at the University of Navarra, Spain. Before joining AUC, she worked at the VU University Amsterdam and the University of Vermont. Emma Cohen de Lara completed her master degrees at the London School of Economics and Leiden University.

Research

Emma has a broad research interest. She is currently working on two book projects: Stories of Resilience, in which she uses philosophical and literary sources to enrich the concept of resilience, and Stories of Civic Virtue, in which she elaborates on philosophical and literary sources on the theme of civic virtue. As a research fellow at the Civic Humanism Center, University of Navarra, she is involved in educational research connected to the Leadership as Service Program, in collaboration with the Oxford Character Project. For a recent article on this project in the International Journal of Ethics Education, see: Leadership as Service: Developing a Character Education Program for University Students in Spain. In addition, she has recently been awarded an Erasmus+ Higher Education Cooperation grant (EUR 250.000 for the five partners) for REMAP: Reading for Meaning and Purpose, which aims to promote meaningful reading practices in universities. The partners in the project are: University of Navarra, University of Amsterdam, University of Latvia, the Bratislava International School of the Liberal Arts, and COAS highschools.

Emma's recent publications include, as co-editor, Rethinking Resilience in Character Education. Insights from Literature and Philosophy (Routledge, expected 2024), and Literature and Character Education in Universities. Theory, Method, and Text Analysis (Routledge, 2022); Together Reading for Pleasure in Educational Utopia's (2023); and an edited volume for the Thijmgenootschap on Plato and the Sophists: A Mirror for Our Time (2020).

Teaching

Emma teaches Classical and Modern Political Thought; Ancient Philosophical Texts about ancient philosophy and rhetoric; and, together with colleagues, the interdisciplinary course Health, Resilience, and Human Flourishing; and Debates and Dialogues in Philosophy. She also teaches Advanced Research Writing and supervises bachelor theses on political theory, democracy, citizenship, and education.