Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Zapata-Barrero's  research deal with contemporary issues of liberal democracy in contexts of diversity. He is director of GRITIM-UPF (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Immigration) and the Master on Migration Studies at UPF. He is member of the Board of Directors of the largest research network on Immigration in Europe - IMISCOE, of editorial boards of several academic journals, and of several government advisory boards.