Women in Academia: A Spotlight on Brazil

This event explores the research conducted in and on Brazil by women in fields such as defence, mental health, business, and education.

Topics of discussion will include:

• Women in academia
• Research development on Brazil
• Choosing one’s avenue of research and specialisation
• Field work and data collection 

This fascinating hybrid panel discussion with our panellists will be Chaired by King’s Brazil Institute Director Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos.

The panel will be followed by an in-person workshop where the attendees will be able to think on and develop their own research ideas or research projects with guidance.

Chair:

Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos 

Panellists:

• Dr Maísa Edwards (Defence and Security)
• Dr Ingrid Aguiar Schlindwein (Political Economy)
• Dr Camila Matias Pereira (Mental Health)
• Dr Luísa Calvete Portela Barbosa (Political Thought and Migration)
• Marcela Gola Boutros (International Education)
• Raisa Ramos De Pina (Business and Commerce)

Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos is the Director of King’s Brazil Institute at the School of Global Affairs, King’s College London, and Senior Lecturer in Brazil and Latin American Studies. Andreza 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, the University of KwaZulu Natal in Durban and JNU, in New Delhi, India. Having studied in Brazil, Germany, South Africa, India, and the United Kingdom, Andreza writes about Brazilian politics and city governance comparatively. Before joining King’s, she was a lecturer at the University of Oxford and director of the Brazilian Studies Programme (2018-2023). She has previously worked at Brazil’s Ministry of Social Development, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Vienna), the Indian Embassy in Brazil, and the Brazilian Confederation of Municipalities

Panellists

Dr Maísa Edwards holds a Joint International Relations PhD from King’s College London (KCL) and the University of São Paulo. Her doctoral research focused on Brazil, the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS) and the South Atlantic region. She has an MSc Brazil in Global Perspective from KCL and a BA(Hons) French and Spanish from University College London. Maísa is a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Departments of War Studies and European & International Studies at KCL, and the Senior Policy Researcher at the think tank ResPublica and the Lifelong Education Institute. Maísa also has a keen interest in multilingual and multicultural literature and has run the 'Talk Books With ME' (@talk_books_with_me) project on Instagram since February 2021.

Dr Ingrid Aguiar Schlindwein is a Postdoctoral Fellow at SOAS and holds a Joint International Relations PhD from King's College London and the University of São Paulo. Her focus is on international political economy, international organisations and international financial institutions. In her doctoral research she explored the role of major middle-income emerging countries in the World Bank’s strategies, with a focus on the institution’s knowledge power. She has been teaching seminars for undergraduate students at King's College London on topics related to history, economics, political science, and sociology. Prior to coming to the United Kingdom, she worked as an International Development Cooperation analyst in the public sector in Brazil.

Dr Camila Corrêa Matias Pereira is a nurse and holds a PhD in Psychiatric Nursing from the University of São Paulo (Ribeirão Preto’s College of Nursing) and a Master's from the Federal University of São João del Rei. She was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at The Center for Research and Intervention on Suicide, Ethical Issues and End-of-Life Practices (CRISE) in 2021-2022 and is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the L'Université de Sherbrooke, Canada.

Dr Luísa Calvete Portela Barbosa is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Politics and International Relations at SOAS University of London, and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Luísa’s research is situated within the field of critical IR, exploring the relationship of race, capitalism, and colonialism today.  She specialises in South Africa, where she engages with questions of transformative justice, using life story interviews, and in Brazil where she focuses on foreign policy and Leftist thought. Luísa also works as a volunteer researcher at the Latin American Women's Rights Service (LAWRS) focusing on labour rights violations. Their latest report addressed abuse and domestic work in the UK.  

Marcela Gola Boutros is an ESRC-funded Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for International Education (CIE) at the University of Sussex. Through a decolonial lens, her doctoral research explores the lived experiences of forced migrants in Brazilian higher education, focusing on the individual and contextual circumstances that enable students to access and thrive in the academic environment. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, Marcela worked in the field of immigration for 4 years providing legal advice to migrants regarding their visa and citizenship applications. She is currently working as a postgraduate research assistant evaluating the UK Schools of Sanctuary programme.

Raisa Pina is a PhD Researcher in Anthropology at the University of Brasília and a Recognised Student at the Latin American Centre of the University of Oxford. She is a former Visiting Researcher at the Department of International Development, King's College London. Her academic pursuits delve into the intricate landscape of Brazilian industrial animal agriculture and its globalised dynamics, with a particular focus on themes encompassing development, agribusiness, and elite networks. In 2023, she was awarded with the Tiny Beam Fund Fellowship. She holds a Master's degree in Visual Arts from the University of Brasília, where she earned the Capes Scholarship, and a Bachelor's degree in Media Studies from the Federal University of Goiás. Her commitment is exploring the intersections of anthropology and contemporary global issues.