Team

Dr. Claudia Diaz‑Rios is an associate professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her work on migration and education examines how schools, policymakers, and communities respond to the needs of migrant and refugee students, and how the governance of refugee education is shaped by power relations, complex accountability demands, and efforts to build more responsive systems. She has led several research projects across the region, collaborating with educators, policymakers, and international organizations to understand what supports real change on the ground. Dr. Diaz‑Rios works to strengthen more just, inclusive, and responsive education systems that recognize the experiences and rights of migrant and refugee children and their families.

Dr. Carolina Cuéllar researches school leadership in socioculturally diverse contexts. Her work examines how leadership is enacted in schools with high migrant enrolment, highlighting both structural tensions and those emerging from internal school dynamics, as well as opportunities to advance toward inclusive education. Her most recent research focuses on a comparative analysis of how school leaders respond to the inclusion of migrant students, using an institutional logics framework, in public schools in Chile and Colombia. Her research projects have received public funding from Chile, Canada, and Latin America. She is currently an independent researcher and works on training initiatives aimed at migrants and newcomers in Canada.

Dr. Denise Vieira Franco holds a Doctorate in Education from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Federal Fluminense University (UFF). She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Pedagogy from the Center for Higher Education of Juiz de Fora and a Master’s degree in Education from UFJF. She is currently a collaborating professor in the Professional Graduate Program in Management and Evaluation of Public Education (CAEd/UFJF). In addition, she works as a teacher and pedagogical coordinator within the Municipal Public Education System of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. Her professional trajectory includes teaching roles in teacher education and postgraduate programs, work as a substitute professor at UFJF, and academic support at CAEd/UFJF. She is also a volunteer with the humanitarian organization Fraternidade sem Fronteiras (Brotherhood Without Borders) through the National Ubuntu School. Her expertise lies in the field of education, with a focus on educational management, public policy, education systems, pedagogical planning, teacher education, migration, refugees, research, and pedagogical coordination.

Edward Sultant is a social worker with a specialization in social policy in Chile. His research focuses on intercultural education strategies in Chile. He has contributed to the book Transnational Families from the Global South: Testimonies of Globalization in Chile, where he examined the intercultural dynamics of multi‑sited families. He has also authored an article in PLANEO, a journal of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, analyzing territorial inequality as a central issue affecting populations in Port‑au‑Prince. In addition, he worked as a research assistant on the book Haitian Migration toward the Southern Andes. He is currently employed at the Municipal Corporation for Education, Health, and Child and Youth Services of Puente Alto, Chile.

Dr. Georgina Lozano Razo is a full‑time teaching and research faculty member in the Academic Unit of Psychology at the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Social Psychology, and a Doctorate in Psychology from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM). She is a faculty member with a PRODEP profile and a Level 1 researcher in Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNII). Her academic work includes supervising undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral theses, as well as authoring and co‑authoring scientific journal articles and book chapters. She is a member of the UAZ Academic Body CA‑94, Children, Youth, and Social Cognition, serves on the evaluation committee of the journal PSICUMEX, and is affiliated with the Latin American Network of Studies on Violence.

Gisele Kleidermacher holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), a Bachelor's degree in Sociology (UBA), and is a secondary school sociology teacher (UBA). She is an adjunct researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), based at the Gino Germani Research Institute. Since 2015, she has led research projects related to social representations of migrants in educational settings. Her other research interests include the analysis of migration dynamics in the Global South and processes of discrimination and access to rights. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and is the editor of the Journal of Business and Social Sciences.

Zavala Rayas is a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas (Mexico) at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He currently researches violence and migration, is a member of the editorial boards of scientific journals, a founding member of the International Society for Psychology of Science and Technology (ISPCT), a founding member of the Mexican Network of Social Psychology, a member of the Mexican Society of Social Psychology (SOMEPSO), and leader of the academic group Children, Youth, and Social Cognition. He has held a PRODEP profile since 2003, a distinction awarded by the Ministry of Public Education (Mexico), and is a member of the National System of Researchers (SNII Level 1), awarded by the Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (Secihti), Mexico.

Dr. Juan Pablo Queupil is a scholar and researcher in the Faculty of Education at the Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez. His research interests include educational leadership, inclusion and socio‑educational justice, collaboration, and networked work in education. His current work focuses on the role of different members of educational communities in processes of socio‑educational transformation across diverse contexts, examining how they address the challenges and opportunities that emerge in territories and locations characterized by adverse and complex conditions.

Dr. Judith Villavicencio draws on her doctoral research at UMECIT to advocate for the strengthening of Flexible Educational Models within the public education system of Cúcuta, Colombia. Her work focuses on promoting student retention and ensuring complete school trajectories for Venezuelan students who access education through these models. She has more than 28 years of professional experience in the field of education, including 14 years as a principal of a public school under the Secretariat of Education of Cúcuta. She is a member of the Transformative Leaders Principals Group, which promotes school improvement initiatives across diverse educational contexts.

Karien van Korlaar is originally trained as a primary school teacher and has developed her professional career in primary education and initial teacher education. She holds a Master’s degree in Education and has specialized in teaching the language of schooling to children from diverse linguistic backgrounds. In both Costa Rica and the Netherlands, she has worked as a teacher with refugee populations in primary schools, in collaboration with government programs and non‑governmental organizations. Drawing on this professional experience, her research interests focus on educational approaches for refugee students and on how pedagogical practices and teacher–student interactions can contribute to greater educational equity. She currently works as a Dutch language instructor at a university‑level teacher education center (PABO). Her academic publications focus on the sense of belonging among refugee students in Costa Rica.

Dr. Kelly Russo holds a Doctorate in Education from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and a Master’s degree in Social Sciences and Education from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). She is a tenured professor in the Faculty of Education at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FEBF‑UERJ), Brazil. She coordinates research and extension projects focused on intercultural education, Indigenous peoples’ rights, and youth in contexts of mobility. Her work includes participatory research with Indigenous communities in both urban and rural settings, and her current research examines Indigenous peoples in refugee situations in Brazil, with a particular focus on the right to education.

Marcela Ortiz is a PhD candidate in Educational Studies at the University of Michigan. Her research draws on ethnographic methods to explore how Venezuelan immigrant and refugee students navigate schooling in Colombia and how integration policies are interpreted and enacted across different levels of the education system. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Sciences Po Paris, and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She has experience working with national governments and international organizations, including the Inter-American Development Bank and UNESCO, supporting the development and implementation of education policy. Her work spans refugee education, learning assessment, education finance, teacher policy, and institutional governance.

Dr. Rafael González is a Venezuelan scholar holding a Doctorate in Education from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Brazil, and a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil. He is a visiting professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) in the graduate programs in Education (PPGE) and History (PPGH). He is a member of the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair (CSVM‑UFJF), the Research and Studies Group on the Geography of Childhood (GRUPEGI‑UFJF), and the Monitoring Committee of the Municipal Policy Plan for Migrant, Refugee, Stateless, and Returnee Populations of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. His work focuses on the intersection of human rights, schooling processes, and migrant and refugee children and youth.

Robin Cavagnoud, PhD in Latin American Studies (sociology and demography) from the Institute of Advanced Studies of Latin America (IHEAL, Paris III University), is a senior professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). His research focuses on demographic and family transformations in Latin America, combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies from population studies, and analyzing, in particular, the evolution of fertility, household structures, and family livelihoods.

Dr. Rolando Poblete holds a Doctorate in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, as well as a Master’s degree in Research from the same institution. He earned his undergraduate degree and teaching qualification in Philosophy from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. He has served as director of doctoral and master’s programs in education. His research and professional work focus on the relationship between migration, diversity, and education, with the aim of promoting inclusive education.

Sara Joiko is a sociologist with a PhD in Sociology and Educational Policy from University College London (UCL). She is currently the Principal Investigator of the Fondecyt project "Education and Migration in Rural Border Contexts: An Emerging Field of Study" and works as a research professor at the School of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, University of the Americas (Chile). Her research combines participatory methodologies with border studies and critical interculturality to investigate educational policies, discourses, and practices for and with migrant children, adolescents, and families. She is also a member of Rizoma Intercultural, a non-profit organization that promotes the inclusion and education of people who migrate to Chile.