New research fellow for interdisciplinary research on sustainability
Published: 22 June 2022
In January 2022, Dr Marcela Ramos joined the theme leadership in order to support interdisciplinary research across the college. Here she explores some reflections on the role to date, drawing on her background in journalism and sustainable agriculture research.
By Dr Marcela Ramos (School of Education)
Being a research fellow at the Sustainability IRT is an excellent opportunity to develop and enhance critical skills: think interdisciplinary and collaboratively; imagine new questions and methods that somehow challenge what we have done so far because, in my view, that is the crucial thing about sustainability: do things differently, challenge explicit but also implicit agreements and practices on critical areas: education, values around development, food production systems.
I have a PhD in Education (University of Bristol), a Master in Public Policy (School of Economics, University of Chile) and a bachelor in Journalism. This background has informed my research interests and helped me navigate through themes, communities and contexts. I am particularly interested in exploring and understanding the exercise and limitations of sustainable practices within unequal and challenging contexts in the Global South. To this end, I am deeply engaged with political ecology & political economy approaches and qualitative research shaped by human geography, participatory & interdisciplinary methods. Most of my current research involves interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations in Colombia (sustainable food production) and Chile (privatization and marketization of education).
From a background in Journalism, I also have a significant commitment and expertise in the area of research communication, a critical component of the broad contribution -academic, economic, societal- we aim to make through our research. I have co-developed media outlets to build bridges between media and academia (TerceraDosis) and contribute to public debates in Chile and Latin America. Currently, I am working (in partnership with the Sustainable Futures Network) on a podcast (ABOUTSUS) to discuss the different understandings, values and approaches to sustainability. The project is informed by research conducted by colleagues at the University of Glasgow and practitioners from different contexts and countries.
Through these projects and partnerships, I hope to reciprocate the generous support I have received from colleagues across the University of Glasgow as an Early Career Researcher.
Interdisciplinary Research Fellows have been appointed in order to support funding applications from colleagues across the College of Social Science, as well as working on fellowship applications to further their own research trajectories. If you are thinking about applying for funding and wondering how Marcela's role could support this, please get in touch: sustainability-irt@glasgow.ac.uk
First published: 22 June 2022