Dr Laura Trajber Waisbich
Laura Trajber Waisbich is a Brazil-born political scientist and international relations expert working on issues related to foreign policy, international development cooperation, policy transfer, citizen participation in policymaking, state-society relations, open government, and human rights.
She is particularly interested in unpacking – in a multi-sited, multi-layered, comparative manner – the disputes surrounding the growing role of Global South countries, in particular ‘rising powers’ like China, India, and Brazil, in the current geopolitical landscape. For over a decade now, she has researched and published extensively on Brazilian Foreign Policy and the politics of South-South cooperation, tracing debates around whether and how to measure Southern-led development cooperation, closely following civil society engagement with and mobilization around 'Global' China, India, and Brazil. Her recent research projects include unpacking contemporary dynamics of South-South policy transfer through development cooperation and the shifting geographies of global policy expertise, as well governance and international cooperation in and around the Amazon Basin.
Laura is a true enthusiast of studying contemporary social and political processes through global and transnational lenses, of building “knowledge for action” and bridging research, policy, and activist communities, as well as of inclusive and participatory research and teaching methods.
She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge and first joined the University of Oxford in 2022 as a Social Sciences Division Postdoctoral Fellow based at OSGA to work on the project titled 'Politics of Accountability in South-South Development Cooperation'. During the 2022-23 academic year she was affiliated with the Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme. Prior to joining Oxford, she accumulated over 10 years of research and policy experience working for civil society organizations and think tanks, primarily in Brazil and the United Kingdom.
Currently Dr Trajber Waisbich is accepting supervision of Oxford Master's students (MPhil and MSc), as well as Recognised Students, currently enrolled in doctoral programmes abroad and wishing to take part of their doctoral training in Oxford. Prospective DPhil candidates should reach out to other faculty members.
