Dr Ana Laura Zavala Guillen is a critical historical geographer researching in and with Afro-descendant communities about their geographies of resistance in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ESRC and the British Academy have sponsored her research. Furthermore, in 2020, she co-founded the Network of Women Doing Fieldwork (NWDF) and later the art and geography collective, Feeling the Field. In these spaces, she guided discussions about embodiment, emotions, childcare, and gender-based violence in the field. The NWDF has also been a space for her to mentor early-career researchers due to her extensive fieldwork experience in Europe, North Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Besides, she has extensive experience as a human rights lawyer and an expert in transitional justice. About formal education, Ana Laura holds a doctorate in human geography from the University of Sheffield funded by the University Prize Scholarship, a MA in Conflict Resolution from Bradford University sponsored by the Rotary Peace Fellowship, a MA in Fundamental Rights from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid funded by the Fundación Carolina, and Bachelor of Laws from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata from her home country, Argentina.
Dr Micaela G. Signorelli (she/her) is a Chilean-Italian performance maker and researcher based in London. She is part of the Network of Women doing Fieldwork, and the STAGES theatre and education research project with People's Palace Projects. Signorelli is passionate about researching the manifold applications of theatrical techniques education and psychology, interrogating and how art facilitates difficult, but important conversations. Her PhD research at Queen Mary University of London analysed the role of performance art in political protests in contemporary Chile.
Pietra Cepero Rua Perez is a Brazilian human geographer and ethnographer who has conducted extensive research in the Brazilian Amazon since 2011. She is currently pursuing her PhD at Durham University's Department of Geography, with a focus on social contested large-scale mining project in the Amazon. As a member of the Network of Women Doing Fieldwork, she is committed to addressing 4 gender violence and advocating for a safe and supportive environment for researchers. Her work as an ethnographer focuses on developing strong links with local people and academics, delving into onto-epistemological concerns, encouraging knowledge co-production, and engaging in militant research. She also actively participates in social movements in the Brazilian Amazon.
Dr Itzel San Roman Pineda is a Mexican critical geographer based at the University of Leeds. She has over 15 years of expertise in tourism for development research and holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield. Her work bridges grassroots movements, decolonial praxis and climate justice, using participatory methodologies to amplify Global South voices in addressing inequalities. Her PhD pioneered the "tourism from below" framework, using Latin American Indigenous ontologies to contest top-down development paradigms. Currently, she applies this grassroots approach to climate adaptation research in Africa. Her current research centres on co-producing people-centred early warning systems that bridge meteorological science with profound community and institutional engagement. She co-founded the Network of Women Doing Fieldwork (250+ members), advocating for creating safer spaces for women and gender-diverse researchers in academia.
Dr Vevila Dornelles is a Brazilian geographer with a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Reading. Her scholarly research addresses the dynamics of social exclusion, inclusion, and agency, 5 with special focus on gendered relations, and their role in the production of digital spaces and spaces of the digital. She has over 10 years of diverse professional experience in consulting, private, academic, and third sectors. Proficient in employing qualitative research methods from a critical standpoint, Vevila joined the Network of Women Doing Fieldwork as part of her commitment towards a fairer academic culture for women and other gender and sexuality minorities, especially those working on online research. Vevila is currently a Researcher at doebem Doações Efetivas, a thirdsector metaorganisation acting towards effective social transformation in Brazil.
Dr Ariana Markowitz (she/her) is a social urbanist and feminist researcher specialising in urban violence, the development of participatory and especially arts-based methodologies, and research ethics. Now at the London Borough of Lambeth, she has nearly two decades of cross-sector experience working to better understand and prevent violence and precarity in 15 countries across North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. She holds a PhD in development planning and an MSc in urban design both from UCL, and a BA in Political Science and Middle East Studies from McGill University. Ariana has helped guide the Network of Women Doing Fieldwork since 2020.