Gabriel Feltran

Gabriel Feltran is a sociologist of crime. Research Professor at CNRS at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics, Sciences Po,Paris. He has been visiting researcher at the University of Oxford (2019), the Humboldt University (KOSMOS Fellow, 2017), and the CIESAS (Mexico, 2015). He has authored and edited several books and articles, including « Stolen Cars: A Journey through São Paulo’s Urban Conflict » (Wiley SUSC series, 2022); « The Entangled City: Crime as Urban Fabric in São Paulo » (Manchester University Press, 2020), and the documentary series « PCC: The Secret Power » (HBOMax, 2022), adapted from his book in Portuguese (« Irmãos: uma história do PCC », 2018). His newest article is entitled A Criminal Platform for the Cocaine Trade: Governance Mechanisms Changing the Balance of Power in a Transcontinental Value Chain (European Journal of Sociology, 2025).

Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

Antonio de Aguiar Patriota was appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2023.

Previously, he was Ambassador of Brazil to the Arab Republic of Egypt (2019-2023), Ambassador of Brazil to Italy (2016-2019) and Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations (2013-2016). He served as Foreign Minister (2011-2013), Deputy Foreign Minister (2009-2010) and Ambassador to the United States (2007-2009).

Among his publications are “The UN Security Council after the Gulf War” (1998) and two volumes of “Speeches, articles and interviews” during his period as Foreign Minister. He published in 2025 a collection of essays in the English language entitled “A Humanist Foreign Policy for a Multipolar World”.

Ambassador Patriota is a member of the “Leaders for Peace” initiative under the chairmanship of former French Prime Minister Raffarin.

The host and session opener

Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos

Andreza is Director of the King's Brazil Institute. She completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, and holds a master’s degree in social sciences jointly awarded by the University of Freiburg, JNU in Delhi, and the University of KwaZulu Natal, in Durban. Andreza completed her bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Brasilia. Having studied in Brazil, Germany, South Africa, India and the UK, Andreza writes about Brazilian politics and city governance comparatively. Before joining King's, she was a lecturer at the University of Oxford and at Oxford she directed the Brazilian Studies Programme (2018-2023). Before that, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford’s School of Anthropology, where she worked at the Urban Transformations portfolio (ESRC). She has previously worked at Brazil’s Ministry of Social Development, the United Nations Office on Drugs.