David Sanchez Villa
Doctoral Fellow in Social Sciences at CIEPP/CONICET
Visiting Researcher
About David Sanchez Villa
David Sanchez Villa is a doctoral fellow in Social Sciences at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Public Policies (CIEPP)/National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), both from Argentina. The title of his research topic is: Turn to the right, changes in social protection? Architecture of the reforms in Argentina and Brazil. This research focuses on the reforms of the center-right and ultra-right governments in retirement, family transfer programs, and labor regulations.
His research interests include studying social protection systems in Latin America with special emphasis on pension policy, family allowances, and employment and social assistance programs. At the same time, he specializes in issues related to inequality.
Previously, David held different positions in State Government, at the municipal and federal levels. This includes the Ministry of Social Development of the Nation, and the Ministry of Territorial Development and Habitat of the Nation. At the municipal level, he worked in the Secretary of Employment Promotion and Social Economy of the town of Morón.
David really likes teaching. In recent years he has been a teacher in secondary schools, universities, and community organizations. Among the subjects he taught were human rights, labor rights, and social protection systems.
Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Argentina, Brazil, Latin America.
Keywords: Social protection system, Welfare State, Argentina, Brazil
João Victor Cristiano Scheffer
Visiting Researcher
Visiting Researcher
Research Cluster: Migration, Labour, and Political Economy
About João Victor Cristiano Scheffer
João Victor Cristiano Scheffer is a Doctoral Fellow in History (CNPq - Brazil) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and a Visiting Scholar (IVRT) in the Department of History at York University. He is a member of the research group 'The Cold War in Lusophone Countries: dependence, transnationalism and democracy', affiliated with PUCRS. Has experience in 20th-century African History, Transnational Solidarity relations and Cold War history. Works with migration, human rights, North-South relations, transnational advocacy networks, civil society organizations and the international support to African decolonization during the 20th century. During his doctoral research he is researching Canadian civil society organizations and their links with Mozambique and Southern Africa from 1960s-1990s, focusing on South American Intellectual History and other ideas from the Global South.
Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Brazil, Canada, Mozambique
Keywords: Migration, human rights, North-South relations, transnational advocacy networks, civil society.
Gerson Scheidweiler
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Equity Studies at York University
Visiting Researcher
About Gerson Scheidweiler
Dr. Gerson Scheidweiler is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Equity Studies at York University (Toronto, Canada). He is a member of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC). His research focuses on sexual health and health equity, communication policies, political communication, gender studies, and human rights.
In 2021, Dr. Scheidweiler founded and directed the National Observatory of Women in Politics in Brazil, institutionalized as a permanent body at the Brazilian National Congress, which investigates female political participation at the municipal, state, and federal levels.
From 2011 to 2022, he drafted and monitored draft laws related to gender and women´s rights and advised women parliamentarians helping them to improve their communication strategies. Gerson also assisted the Parliamentary Front of Early Childhood at the Brazilian National Congress (Chamber of Deputies and Federal Senate) with their advocacy campaigns, public budgeting and political strategies.
Gerson is a specialist in gender and political representation, electoral campaign, political communication and advertising. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Brasilia and a Master in Communication from the same University. For his doctoral thesis, he investigated the implementation of affirmative actions in electoral campaigns to reduce gender inequalities in political representation in Brazil.
Gerson also has a passion for teaching. From 2013 to 2019, he worked as a Professor of Communications and Advertising at the Catholic University of Brasilia. He instructed Digital Marketing and Social Media Management, Strategic Planning and History of Communication (among others) at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels. Gerson was the coordinating Professor for both the Junior Advertising and Propaganda Lab and the Google Application Development Project for the Communications Department at the Catholic University of Brasilia.
In addition to teaching, Gerson coordinated two research groups at the Chamber of Deputies Education Center (CEFOR): “Parliamentarians on Social Media” and “The legislative performance of women in politics”. Gerson also helped to coordinate “App School”, a research project that examines online gender-based violence and help girls to protect themselves. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant for the European Union, researching and developing a report on “Education, Internet and Human Rights in Brazil”.
In 2019, Gerson co-founded Aliá Political Consultancy for Women, which assists political parties in implementing political education and training programs to foster women's leadership at local, state and federal levels.
Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Brazil, Venezuela
Keywords: Gender, women, justice, political parties, political participation
Paulo Trivellato
Doctoral Fellow in Global Health and Sustainability at the University of São Paulo, Brazil
Visiting Researcher
Research Cluster: Environment, Extraction, and Territory
About Paulo Trivellato
Paulo Trivellato is a Doctoral Fellow in Global Health and Sustainability at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and a Visiting Student at the University of Toronto until September 2025. Trained in International Relations (USP), he collaborates with a trans-Atlantic research partnership examining “Social Mobilization as a Policy-Making Lever”, analyzing community engagement and decentralized governance across Brazil, Canada, Germany, and Peru, with particular attention to Covid-19 responses.
His research critically examines global health’s rhetorical embrace of ‘decolonization’ post-2020, interrogating whether this reflexive shift meaningfully counters the field’s narrowing ‘global’ paradigm and Latin America’s marginalization within it. Drawing on postcolonial theory and critical global health studies, he argues that the field’s overreliance on normative framings conceals the necessary analytical work on political dilemmas that justice struggles reveal.
Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Brazil, Latin America
Keywords: global health, North-South relations, decolonization