Research

Please find an overview of some of my previous and current research here:

Between conservation and extraction: Addressing socioecological dynamics of illicit economies and opportunities for rural development in Protected Areas of the Peruvian Amazon (2021-2025)

My doctoral project, funded by the Fonds Wettenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO), is an interdisciplinary research effort. It involves integrating different methodological approaches to evaluate the socio-ecological change brought by the rise of coca cultivation in the Peruvian Amazon.

State of environmental defenders in the Peruvian Amazon: Evaluating deforestation and environmental crimes in indigenous lands (2024-2025)

This ongoing collaboration with a local Peruvian NGO, Propurús, represents an innovative effort of environmental advocacy in the Peruvian Amazon. Using, Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing and fieldwork, Propurús seeks to uncover the real extent of environmental crimes in Amazonian regions of Peru.

Illegal mining and coca cultivation in the buffer zone of El Sira Communal Reserve: exploration of their infiltration mechanisms and impacts on forest loss (2023-2024)

This project, funded by Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social (CIES), explored the environmental impacts linked to the upscaling of Artisanal Small scale Mining on indigenous lands near the Reserva Comunal El Sira in Peru.

Oil spills and health impacts on indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon (2018-2019)

This project, funded by Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social (CIES), explored the environmental and health impacts of the largest inland oil spill on Kukama communities in lower Amazonia.

Prior Consultation and Chinese Investments in Ore Mining in Latin America (2017-2018)

This project, in which I served as a research assistant to Dr. Cynthia Sanborn at Pacific University, focused on how Chinese investments in mining intersect with local governance structures in Latin America.

Rights abuse allegations in the context of REDD+ readiness and implementation (2017)

This consultancy for Centre for International Forestry Research delve into rights abuse allegations of land grabbing in the context of REDD+ readiness and implementation in tropical countries.

Mouvements autochtones et redéfinitions contemporaines de la souveraineté (2016)

This project funded by Universidad Laval, in which I served as a research assistant of Dr. Stéphanie Rousseau (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) focused on the rise of indigenous governance structures in the Bolivian Andes.

Drugs, Security and Democracy (2015-2016)

This project, funded by Social Science Research Council, in which I served as a research assistant to Dr. Maritza Paredes at PUCP, aimed to disentangle the origins and dynamics of drug trafficking within the Latin American region.