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Team

Iguazu Waterfalls - Close up

The project team comprises researchers and professional staff based at the University of Leeds and São Paulo State University (Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP), with interdisciplinary expertise across the social sciences (international relations/global governance, political economy, history, human geography, and environmental law). The project is also supported by two external partners: the São Paulo-based NGO MAPAS, one of the central actors in Brazil's Rights of Nature movement, and the transnational alliance of territorial land defenders, Guardians Worldwide.

University of Leeds Team:

With a background in global governance/international relations, Markus's research focusses on understanding the emergence of (potentially) novel and innovative governance mechanisms in addressing transboundary challenges across a range of policy areas, including environmental degradation and river pollution. He is interested in exploring the power dynamics underlying the politico-legal frameworks of Rights of Nature, as well as their socio-political tensions and contradictions

Geoff is an interdisciplinary political economist, and his research focuses primarily on water, land, and infrastructure. He's particularly interested in understanding the extent to which rights of nature movements contribute to the decommodification of rivers and transcend capitalist logics and relations. He's keen to explore the Brazilian case in relation to other Latin American countries, especially Ecuador and Colombia, where he conducts the bulk of his research.

I am a decolonial educator whose research and practice focuses on how cultural artefacts of 20th century Latin American resistance are reconfigured through memory work in the present. My interest in this project is the potential to explore the multiple knowledges around water and rivers that are constructed and transmitted across time, through transgenerational and embodied knowledges. Through the network and dialogues generated through this project, I hope to develop new ways of co-curating archives on resistance and struggle for the rights of rivers in Brazil.

Ann Marie provides administrative support to water@leeds and a number of research national and international research projects. She is also responsible for delivery of internal and external communications, including the water@leeds monthly newsletter, website and annual report. With an arts background she has worked for theatres, art galleries and music organisations on press and marketing, audience development and community engagement. She holds an MA and MPhil in Modern Art and Theory on Native American Contemporary Art funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and is an alumna of the University of Stirling and the University of Essex.

  • Research fellow: TBC
São Paulo State University Team:

With a background in Brazilian History and a specialization in the History of Cartography, Denise Moura's research aims to highlight how historical maps, originally printed on paper and preserved in archives, libraries, and museums, are a wealth of human and ecological information that, when subjected to historical critique and used in relation to other historical sources, provide support for projects and discussions in the fields of the Law of Nature, ecology, and environmental management and recovery efforts. Her work also intends to contribute to the understanding of the historical processes that led to the hegemony of the anthropo-utilitarian understanding of rivers, but also to the existence and resistance of opposing forms.

Fernanda Mello Sant'Anna is a Lecturer in International Relations at São Paulo State University (UNESP) and currently serves as Dean of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences. With a background in Political Geography, her research develops decolonial approaches to global environmental politics, with a particular focus on transboundary river basins. In this project, she is interested in understanding how communities mobilise to defend rivers — and how these movements can transform the ways in which we relate to water and nature.

Geographer and lecturer at Unesp, his research examines the dynamics driving the expansion of Brazil’s agricultural frontier, with particular attention to the articulation between the financialization of the agri-food system and the mechanisms of control over land and water. In this research, his interest lies in analysing the construction of geographical ideologies that legitimise the appropriation of rivers as resources, as well as the forms of resistance and political articulation among Indigenous peoples and traditional communities in defence of the ecological conditions underpinning their social reproduction.

  • PhD student: Taynara Martins Batista

With a background in International Relations and Maritime Studies, Taynara’s research focuses on the political dynamics of transboundary rivers, regionalism, and maritime issues, including border disputes and ocean governance. Currently, she is particularly interested in exploring the Rights of Nature, and its potential implications for local and regional politics.

Leonardo is an Assistant Professor at São Paulo State University (UNESP), in the Public Law Department. His current work focuses on mining conflicts, supply chain regulation, and development. He is particularly interested in water governance, environmental citizenship, and peacebuilding in the context of water conflicts.

External Partners:
  • Dr Vanessa Hasson, MAPAS

Vanessa Hasson de Oliveira holds a post-doctoral degree in Nature Rights, a master's degree and specialization in Environmental Law, and is a member of the UN's Harmony with Nature program. A lawyer, educator, and art therapist in training, she dedicates her career to rethinking the relationship between human beings and more-than-human beings from an ethical perspective, grounded in the cosmovisions of indigenous peoples. Founder of the NGO MAPAS, she advocates for the inclusion of Nature Rights in Brazilian legislation and guides organizations and institutions in adopting these principles in their educational processes and practices. Through her work, which has resulted in the approval of several proposed laws recognizing Nature Rights in Brazil, Vanessa broadens the debate on ecological justice and points the way to a regenerative future where caring for life—in all its forms—is a shared project.

Based in Portugal, Nic is a Chilean and British land defender, campaigner, community builder, researcher and author, formerly associated with the University of Leeds and currently the Director of Guardians Worldwide. Interest in this project primarily involves establishing connections to territorial struggles for land and water sovereignty, particularly among Quilombo and Indigenous communities along the São Francisco River in Sergipe and Alagoas, with whom Nic has been working since 2015.