Dr Adriana Ressiore

Profile

I am a Research Fellow in the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds, working on the ESRC–FAPESP project Governing Rivers as Legal Persons in Brazil: Developing a Kincentric Rights Framework to Address Brazil's River Crisis.

My academic background combines political ecology, environmental governance, feminist approaches, and participatory and transdisciplinary research methodologies. I hold a PhD from Wageningen University & Research, where I examined the potentials and challenges of more-than-human care for biodiversity conservation in Brazil.

My research is grounded in collaborations with communities, social movements, civil society organisations, and researchers from different disciplines and knowledge systemss. I am particularly interested in how different ways of knowing, relating to, and caring with nature-beings and how that can shape environmental governance and possibilities for socio-ecological transformation.

Research interests

My current research focuses on the emergence of river rights initiatives in Brazil, particularly the processes through which rivers come to be recognised as legal persons and rights-bearing entities. I am interested in what happens when relational and kin-centric understandings of rivers, often rooted in Indigenous and local communities' ways of life, encounter formal legal and institutional frameworks. What happens to these relations in the process of institutionalisation? What possible ontological clashes can arise? What possibilities and tensions might emerge?

Working empirically across two river cases in Brazil, I aim to investigate how river rights are negotiated and put into practice, and what relational accountability can tell us about the responsibilities and commitments that emerge from recognising rivers as rights-bearing entities, particularly beyond legal texts and formal recognition. I remain very much interested in artistic and poetic forms of research, as well as experimenting with participatory and creative methodologies throughout this process, seeking to include and experiment with both humans and non-humans in decision-making processes.

Qualifications

• PhD, Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
• MA International Development Studies: Sustainability, Participati. and Innova., Uni. Grenoble-Alples
• MA Arctic Studies, Université Paris-Saclay, France
• BA International Relations, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil

Professional memberships

• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Brazil — Consultant & Trainee, Montreal Protocol Implementing and Monitoring Unit, Brasília
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Brussels — Trainee, EU Partnerships and Fundraising Office
• European Schoolnet (EUN), Brussels — Science Education Assistant
• Wageningen University & Research - PhD researcher

Student education

My teaching experience spans undergraduate, master's, and PhD education, with a focus on feminist epistemologies, social and environmental justice, participatory methodologies, and transdisciplinary research.

At Wageningen University & Research, I co-taught and redesigned the bachelor's course Social Justice, Technology, and Development, and created and coordinated an MSc Capita Selecta on working with primary data and collaborative book writing. I also developed and co-taught the postgraduate course Participatory Methodologies: Knowledge Dialogue and Environmental Conservation at the Federal University of Bahia.

Additionally, I have contributed to courses at Utrecht University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and other universities, delivering lectures on feminist epistemologies, more-than-human care, participatory research, and fieldwork methodologies. I am particularly interested in participatory and creative approaches to teaching and learning.

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>The school welcomes enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>