Néstor Daniel Vargas is a sociologist from the University of Antioquia and holds a Master's degree in Education from the same university. His work experience focuses mostly on marginalized indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. He is part of the academic committee of the undergraduate program "Pedagogy in Rurality and Peace" led by the National Faculty of Public Health, the Faculty of Education, and different rural organizations in the country. He currently dedicates himself to university teaching, research and extension work in solidarity with rural communities and territorial peace building.
Justa Hopma is a specialist freelance writer on topics such as agriculture, food security, food system change and international cooperation. She obtained her PhD on food system change in Jordan from the Department of International Relations & Human Geography at Aberystwyth University. Subsequently, she designed post-doc research on global food justice at the University of Sheffield. She is interested in all things related to system change, including the facilitation of co-production and setting up equitable partnerships in the field of food & agriculture. She currently works as writer and independent consultant. You can find her portfolio on Medium and read more about her consultancy and research projects on her personal website at https://justahopma.com/.
Luis Bravo (Mexico City, 1992) has a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in political and social studies. He is currently specializing in public security and is also dedicated to teaching. His research interests focus on the analysis of political actors, security policy in Mexico and Mexico-United States relations.
René Churquina holds a master's degree in entrepreneurship from Lund University in Sweden. He is a consultant for social and SDG-based startups in Bolivia and Latin America. He specializes in innovation system performance and hybrid organizations that support innovation and entrepreneurship in Bolivia and Latin America. He is also a startup mentor for Seedstars, a global organization that supports emerging market entrepreneurs on their journey. René is an entrepreneur himself and has launched two award-winning startups in Sweden and Denmark.
María Elena Méndez has a degree in business communication and public relations and a degree in sociology. Her professional experience includes working as a research assistant in projects for PAHO (Honduras) based on maternity and malnutrition. She has conducted lectures on the use of qualitative and quantitative research programs at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Nicaragua. She also created a database for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Studies in Kenya, Africa. She is currently working on a master’s degree in strategic business management at the Universidad de Cádiz y Formato Educativo Formato Educativo (Spain) and works as an associate consultant at Mendez Consultores, providing academic advice in social and educational fields from Mexico to Colombia.
Leandro Marcarian is an economist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Buenos Aires in 2008 and his postgraduate degree from Torcuato Di Tella University in 2012. He has also completed two executive education programs from the International Monetary Fund (Inclusive Growth, 2016) and Harvard University (Leading Growth Economics, 2017), and in 2018 he completed the MSc Financial Economics program at Birkbeck, University of London with merit. He has worked in both the private and public sectors, in Argentina and abroad, in academia and in cooperation with international organizations. In recent years he has dedicated himself to teaching and research. His research topics are varied, but he is passionate about the interplay between economic growth and poverty reduction.
Vicente Quintero is a social scientist and journalist from Venezuela. He earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and history from the Universidad Metropolitana of Caracas. He is currently working on a postgraduate degree in government and public policy at the Central University of Venezuela where he also serves as an assistant professor. His book “El Tercer Reich en Venezuela: el nazismo y importancia del Caribe en la política internacional” was the first of its kind, exploring Nazism in Venezuela. Vicente is also an accomplished artist, having displayed his work on LGBT economics at Venezuelan national museums.