I am a researcher and educator whose work sits at the intersection of pedagogy and peacebuilding, a focus that has taken shape across more than two decades of practice in diverse contexts. 

I currently work as a Lecturer in Education Studies at the University of Glasgow, situated within the Education for Equity, Inclusion & Community (EEIC) research and teaching group. I am also co-convenor of the Glasgow Latin American Research Network and a member of the Glasgow Comparative and International Education Research network.

Prior to joining the University of Glasgow, I served as Associate Professor in the School of Education of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. While there, I taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Curriculum and Pedagogy, Education and Conflict, Youth and Drugs, and Qualitative Research Methods. I was also part of the leadership committee for the interdisciplinary Masters in Peacebuilding. My eight years in Colombia, working closely with teachers at a time when the country was navigating the aftermath and resurgence of armed conflict, deepened my commitment to understanding how educators sustain peace-oriented practice under conditions of violence and precarity. 

In earlier roles, I worked as an educator and researcher across a range of settings, including comparative human rights study abroad, youth leadership development, prison-based writing and student press, teacher professional development, and peacebuilding and humanitarian relief, in United States, Nepal, Jordan, Chile, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka. Each of these experiences sharpened my attention to the geographic specificities of violence and shaped a practice-led understanding of pedagogy that continues to inform my scholarly work. 

My academic training also lies within these areas: I hold an EdD and an EdM in International Educational Development, with a concentration in Peace Education, from Columbia University (USA), and a Master's degree in International Relations, with an emphasis on Peace and Conflict Studies, from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). I am also trained as a community mediator through the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution of Columbia University.

My research examines pedagogical practice as a site of peacebuilding, exploring how educational communities create sanctuary, engage in restoration, and enact social justice amid conditions of direct and indirect violence.  

Situated in Latin America and particularly the Andes region, my work has been shaped by the region's shifting dynamics of insecurity and its long legacy of creative resistance. In particular, I have examined the educational implications of illicit drug markets, with special attention to teachers. In a study set in Guayaquil, Ecuador, I examined how teachers engaged student involvement in micro-trafficking, showing the everyday production of educational drug policy through teachers’ discretionary practices. In a systematic literature review on the nexus of education to the war on drugs, we evidenced the existent gap in the academic literature regarding how drug conflicts reshape education and introduced a research agenda to address this gap. Most recently, I carried out an extended case study on teacher insecurity and protection in Colombia, examining the nature and effects of violence against teachers. Collectively these studies highlight two recurrent themes: the grievous symbiosis between criminal governance and fragmented ineffectual education bureaucracies that position teachers precariously, and the educational inequities they produce. These themes inform my ongoing interests in teacher agency and educational justice in conflict and crisis contexts.  

At the same time, across my work, I have found that many teachers persist in tactical approaches to care and teaching, despite many pressures against them. In a recent project on restorative pedagogies with teachers in Nariño, Colombia, we explored tailored approaches for engaging with the findings of the Colombian Truth Commission Report and teaching about violent history amid ongoing conflict. In a previous project, we collaboratively systematised pedagogical innovations for peace in conflict-affected settings of Colombia, accompanying teachers to reflect and write about their initiatives. In a separate collaborative project, we co-edited a book that gathered and showcased teacher-led research about diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in schools across the country. Alongside these studies on teachers’ praxes of peace, I have also drawn from my own teaching practice to explore the tensions and possibilities of critical and decolonial peace pedagogy. 

My current projects include research on teacher wellbeing amid the shifting security dynamics in Ecuador, a study on antiracist pedagogy in the context of rising far-right politics in the United Kingdom, and a personal exploration on teaching about violence in higher education. My research is primarily qualitative, drawing on ethnographic, critical, and creative approaches, including multi-sited and comparative case study research, and sistematización.

Research Supervision Areas

I welcome supervision inquiries from potential doctoral researchers who share my research interests, including:

• Peace and social justice pedagogies
• Teachers and teaching conditions 
• Education in conflict and crisis 
• Diversity, decoloniality and justice in education
• Curriculum and pedagogy in international settings

Supervision Inquiries

If you are interested in studying with me, please email me the following: 

1. Research proposal of max 3000 words - including references (see here for guidance)
2. Recent CV
3. Any books, articles, chapters, or reports you’ve published already
4. A brief description of how your research interests align with my research and why you’re interested in pursuing a PhD specifically with me.
5. A brief description of your funding situation (e.g., already in receipt of a scholarship, planning to apply to one, planning to self-fund, etc.)
6. A listing of other academics/programmes you have contacted at Glasgow and beyond as well as the status of those exchanges.

• Working with Young People: Education and Learning for Change
• Introduction to Educational and Social Research