The LAC-EU Newsletter

Welcome to the first issue
of the LAC-EU Newsletter!

What is LAC-EU?

LAC-EU is the acronym of the “Understanding Latin American Challenges in the 21st Century” doctoral network, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Doctoral Networks that started in February 2024. LAC-EU is an integrated four-year doctoral network programme, providing world-class, interdisciplinary research and training in social and political sciences, law and the humanities, as well as research exchanges and policy-relevant secondments in the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to twelve Doctoral Candidates. The LAC-EU doctoral network aims to provide a novel, comprehensive and interdisciplinary framework for understanding LAC and its relationship with the EU, promoting respectful, non-Eurocentric research and engagement. It will enable a better understanding of current challenges in Latin American governance and support sustainable, equitable and successful LAC-EU relations. Research themes include the rise of populism, democracy, gender rights, trade, migration, health, global cities, sustainability and green finance, and cultural learning.

The LAC-EU doctoral programme comprises an interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral network composed of seven leading higher education institutions and key, highly relevant civil society, and policy partners from a range of European and LAC countries.

Learn more about LAC-EU

The LAC-EU Doctoral Network

Partners

Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals - IBEI
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO Argentina)
Universitat de Barcelona
Sciences Po
University of Oslo
University of York funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Meet LAC-EU’s Doctoral Candidates
and their research projects

Tamara Albarracín Sánchez (UB)
She is pursuing her PhD in the ‘Linguistic, Literary and Cultural Studies’ programme at the University of Barcelona. Her thesis, supervised by Dunia Gras and Maria Grau-Perejoan, puts forward a sociological analysis of the trajectories of Latin American and Caribbean women writers in Europe in the 21st century.

Domonkos Bánki (FLACSO Argentina)
He conducts his research at FLACSO Argentina and KU Leuven. His dissertation revolves around green investments between the European Union and Latin America. The supervisor and
co-supervisor of his project are, respectively, Diana Tussie (FLACSO Argentina) and Axel Marx (KU Leuven).

Alice Blukacz (FLACSO Argentina)
She is a PhD candidate at FLACSO Argentina and Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Her doctoral project, supervised by Mercedes Botto (FLACSO Argentina) and Juan Carlos Triviño-Salazar (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), analyses health policies and migration in Argentina and Chile.

Gustavo Cadenas Deslascio (U. of Oslo)
He is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Development and Environment at the University of Oslo. His research focuses on EU soft power strategies to promote ecological transitions in Latin America and the Caribbean. His dissertation is supervised by Benedicte Bull, Mariel Aguilar-Støen and Elin Lerum Boasson.

Joaquin Caprarulo (KU Leuven)
He is pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Global Governance Studies (KUL) under the supervision of Jan Wouters and Gustavo Müller. His research focuses on the relationship between Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean at the UN Human Rights Council.

Luciana Coube Cardoso (IBEI)
She is a PhD candidate in the Political and Social Sciences programme at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and is part of IBEI. Her thesis, supervised by Jacint Jordana, focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean's involvement in translational and global cities networks.

Natalia Escoffier (IBEI)
She is at IBEI and a PhD candidate in the Political and Social Sciences program at Universitat Pompeu Fabra under the supervision of Dr. Andrea C. Bianculli. Her research focuses on gender, social policy, and trade in Latin American regional governance.

Victoria Frois Borrero (U. of York)
She is pursuing a PhD at the University of York, under the supervision of Jean Grugel and Saba Joshi. Her doctoral research analyses the dynamics of civil society in Latin America.

Gabrielle Leite (U. of York)
She is pursuing a PhD in Politics at the University of York, under the supervision of Jean Grugel and Saba Joshi. Her research explores sexual and reproductive health services in Brazil, focusing on adolescent pregnancy.

Ana Obando (KU Leuven) She is pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Global Governance Studies (KUL). Under the supervision of Jan Wouters she studies the interactions of Latin American and Caribbean countries in multilateral trade governance.

Marina Lika Uehara (UB)
She is at the Universitat de Barcelona, under the supervision of Dunia Gras and Maria Grau-Perejoan. Her work examines how Latin American literature is translated and represented in European publishing houses.

Luca Venga (Sciences Po Paris)
He is a PhD candidate at Sciences Po Paris. His research, supervised by Patrick Le Galès, focuses on authority in urban environments, and on how citizens interact with the state in a variety of settings and through different means.

Read about the researchers and experts that are part of the network

Partners

Associated Partners

External Advisory Board

What’s next?

In the next three years, we will present in a biannual newsletter the activities carried out by the Doctoral Network, and the research produced by our Doctoral Candidates.

Read our latest news

If you are in the UK…

Don’t miss out on the first LAC-EU network event, which will take place on March 19-21 in York. It includes several public activities:

Thursday, March 20, at 18h. Concert by Mestisa (traditional and popular music from Latin America) [York Medical Society]
Friday, March 21, at 9h30. Panel on the far right in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean, by Daphne Halikiopoulou and Leslie Wehner [York Medical Society]

If you’d like to attend any of these, send an email to laceu@ibei.org