Manuel Garcia-Ruiz is a sociologist and Integrated Researcher at CIES-Iscte – Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal.

He holds a PhD in Sociology from Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon, a postgraduate degree in Data Analysis from ISCTE, a double MA in Communication Sciences and Cultural Studies from the University of Lisbon, and a BA in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Alicante. His undergraduate training included an academic stay at Paris Dauphine University – PSL, France.

His research develops across four interconnected fields: (i) nightlife, festivals, leisure and tourism, including proximity tourism and the transformation of nocturnal and urban life; (ii) city branding, culture-led urban regeneration, artwashing, and the commodification of arts and culture; (iii) art worlds, artistification, cultural production, and the artistic careers of emerging professionals; and (iv) research methods and methodologies, with particular attention to ethnography, mixed methods, and the methodological challenges of conducting research at night. Across these fields, his work engages with broader questions concerning cities, touristification, cultural industries, queer cultures, public space, and urban social and cultural change.

Garcia-Ruiz is Founder and Coordinator of the International Night Studies Network (INSN), Coordinator of the Urban Ethnography Network (Etno.Urb), and Coordinator of Research Network 40 – Sociology of Leisure and Tourism of the European Sociological Association (ESA). He is also Fieldwork Coordinator of the LXNIGHTS research project at NOVA University Lisbon. For the 2025–2027 term, he also serves as an Alternate Member of the Council for Professional Ethics of the Portuguese Sociological Association (APS).

His editorial and scientific service includes membership of the Editorial Boards of Leisure Studies and the World Leisure Journal. He is Guest Editor of the Tourism Geographies special issue “After Dark: Nighttime Tourism and the Transformation of Urban Destinations”. He co-edited, with Jordi Nofre, Understanding Nighttime Tourism (Edward Elgar, 2024) and is co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook on Nocturnal Cities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2027), with Jordi Nofre, and The Routledge Handbook of Night Studies (Routledge, 2027), with Nick Dunn, Edna Hernández González, and Jordi Nofre.

He welcomes enquiries from prospective Master's and doctoral students interested in developing research within or across these areas, particularly projects related to Night Studies, leisure and tourism, urban and cultural sociology, art worlds and cultural industries, and qualitative, ethnographic or mixed-method research.