Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield (UK). Senior Adviser in Transitional Justice for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Before joining the University of Huddersfield, I was a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Security Studies at Birmingham City University and I was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds (2018 - 2020) and the Coordinator of the Political Communication, Local Peacebuilding and Human Rights Programme at EAFIT University (Colombia, 2015 - 2018). I previously worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP - Latin America Regional Centre) as an Associate Expert (2009 - 2015), and as a Research Fellow at the Social Research Centre and Popular Education (CINEP), from 2005 to 2008, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (FES-C3) from 2004 to 2008.
My research interests focus on the relationship between violence, human rights and security from a socio-political perspective. It explores how social movements and victims of armed conflict and violent contexts are implementing communicative citizenship actions to claim human rights and security in local and regional public spheres; and how these actions are affecting the construction of political and cultural memory, dimensions of social recognition, and degrees of solidarity and power in divided societies.
I have explored normative and positive models and integrated sociological theories to understand the impact of crime and violence on society, taking into account inequality, culture, exclusion, illegality, geopolitical considerations and poverty in order to find explanations regarding the impact of these topics in particular Latin American contexts.
I hold a PhD in Politics and International Studies, a MA in Global Citizenship, Identities and Human Rights, and a BA in Media Studies and Social Communication (First Class).
Experience
2021–present
Senior Lecturer in Criminology, The University of Huddersfield
2020–2021
Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Security Studies , Birmingham City University
2019–2020
Programme Director MSc Security, Conflict & Justice, University of Leeds
2018–2020
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Leeds
2015–2018
Senior Lecturer, EAFIT University
2009–2015
Associate Expert - Democratic Governance Area, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
2005–2008
Senior research fellow, Social Research Centre and Popular Education
2002–2008
Lecturer, Javeriana University
Education
2015
The University of Huddersfield, PhD in Politics and International Studies
2010
The University of Nottingham, MA Global Citizenship, Identities and Human Rights
2009
The University of Oxford, PG Political Philosophy
2002
Javeriana University, BA (Hons) Media Studies and Social Communication
Publications
2021
Social solidarity as a dimension of transitional justice: the case of Cartography and Identification of Mass Graves in post-conflict Colombia, The International Journal of Human Rights
2020
Organised Crime Governance in Times of Pandemic: The Impact of COVID‐19 on Gangs and Drug Cartels in Colombia and Mexico, Bulletin of Latin American Research - BLAR
2019
Victims’ collective memory and transitional justice in post-conflict Colombia: the case of the March of Light, Memory Studies,
2018
Cuando la razón no lo explica todo. Implementación de acciones de ciudadanías comunicativas en el marco del conflicto armado colombiano desde una mirada trasnacional. [When Reason Does Not Explain Everything: Implementations of Communicative Citizenship Actions in the Context of the Colombian Armed Conflict from a Transnational Perspective]., Palabra Clave
2017
Symbols, Communicative Citizenship Actions and the Claiming of Human Rights from a Transnational Perspective: the case of the Social Movement of Victims of Eastern Antioquia, Colombia, Émulations
2017
Después de la guerra: otra Medellín. Ciudadanías comunicativas, apropiación urbana y resignificación de espacios públicos en clave de memoria y posconflicto. [After the War: A Different Medellin. Communicative Citizenship, Urban Appropriation, and Resignification of Public Spaces Addressing Memory and Post-conflict]., Signo y Pensamiento
Professional Memberships
International Sociological Association (ISA)
British Sociological Association (BSA)
Sharing Society Network (SSN)
International Society for Third- Sector Research (ISTR)