Vinicius Gomes de Aguiar is a Geographer. He has a PhD in Geography (2015) from the Federal University of Goiás (Universidade Federal de Goiás, UFG), Brazil. He is currently Professor at the Federal University of Northern Tocantins, Brazil. His focus is on environmental conflicts and their impact on traditional communities, with an emphasis on communities affected by large development projects such as dams and agricultural projects.
Ricardo Barbosa Jr is a PhD student in International Relations at the University of Brasília, Brazil, and an MA student in the Department of Geography at the University of Calgary, Canada. He has an MA in International Relations from the University of Brasília, Brazil along with BAs in International Relations and Social Sciences from the Federal University of Goiás, and Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás, Brazil. Ricardo has published in the Journal of Agrarian Change, Agriculture and Human Values, Dialogues in Human Geography, Social and Cultural Geography, and Journal of Maps.
Cássio Arruda Boechat is Professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Department of Geography, Brazil. He is the head of the Laboratory of Territorial Studies. He has a PhD in Human Geography from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil and a postdoctorate from the Université de Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès, LISST-Dynamiques Rurales, France. He is a member of the Study Group on Social Change, Agribusiness and Public Policies (GEMAP, Grupo de Mudança Social, Agronegócio e Políticas Públicas), Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, UFRRJ), Brazil.
Lídia Cabral is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK. She is a social scientist working across disciplines. Her work centres on the politics of food, South–South relations, and the power of discourse in driving policy and constructing identities. Her latest research focuses on the histories of the Green Revolution in Brazil, India, and China, exploring how narratives about the past shape the international circulation of knowledge and contemporary technology transactions in the global South. She is also interested in researching equity, justice, and territoriality in food systems.
Luís Felipe Perdigão de Castro has a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Brasília, Brazil. He is a specialist in constitutional and environmental law, a lawyer, and a Professor of Law, at undergraduate and graduate levels, at the following institutions: the Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research (Instituto Brasileiro de Ensino, Desenvolvimento e Pesquisa, IDP), the University Center of the Central Plateau Apparecido dos Santos (Centro Universitário do Planalto Central Apparecido dos Santos, UNICEPLAC), and the University Centre of the Development of the Centre West (Centro Universitário do Desenvolvimento do Centro Oeste, UNIDESC). He is a member of the research group BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) and of the Observatory for Socio-environmental Conflicts in Matopiba, Brazil.
Estevan Coca is an Assistant Professor of the Institute of Natural Sciences at the Federal University of Alfenas, Brazil, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate geography. He is also a Researcher Associate of the Postgraduate Program on Territorial Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (TerritoriAL) at São Paulo State University (Universidade Estadual Paulista, UNESP), Brazil.
Ludivine Eloy is an agronomist (AgroparisTech) with a PhD in Geography (University Paris 3, France). She is currently a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS, UMR ART‑Dev, Montpellier) and collaborative researcher at the University of Brasília. Her research interests include traditional resource management practices and their interfaces with environmental norms and agricultural landscapes dynamics in Brazil. Her recent publications include the delimitation and management of protected areas in the Cerrado (Journal of Peasant Studies), agrobiodiversity in soybean interstices (Confins), fire management (Ambio, Geographical Journal, Flora), and more recently, changing water regimes in the Matopiba (Water).
Osmar Coelho Filho holds a certificate degree in Agroecology from the University of California and a master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the Center for Sustainable Development (Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, CDS), University of Brasília (Universidade de Brasília, UnB). He is a PhD candidate in the Environmental Technology and Water Resources graduate programme (Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologia Ambiental e Recursos Hídricos, PTARH), UnB. His research focuses on water crises and water security, environmental management, and institutional economics. He was the 2010 recipient of the HSBC Bank National Award on Sustainable Development. Previously, he worked as an assistant researcher at the Institute for Applied Social and Economic Research (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada, Ipea) and CDS, UnB.
Komali Kantamaneni is a Senior Research Fellow at the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK. She is a coastal scientist and environmentalist. Komali completed her PhD at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea, UK; she holds an MSc in Environmental Sciences and a BSc in Biology. Komali’s academic background gives her different perspectives, and she engages with interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects. She is a Principal Investigator for several projects, including for the British Council Newton Fund and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and is also a Co‑Investigator for several international projects.
Matheus Sehn Korting is a postdoctoral researcher in Social Sciences in Development, Agriculture and Society, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (CPDA/UFRRJ), Brazil, where he also completed his PhD. He has a master’s degree in Rural Development from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS). His research interests are related to rural sociology, environmental laws, instruments for public policy, land register, and environmental issues. He is a member of the Observatory on Public Policies for Agriculture (OPPA) and works on supporting research in environmental register and land tenure, especially in the agriculture frontiers in Brazil.
Acácio Zuniga Leite is a PhD candidate at the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Brasília, Brazil. He has a master’s degree in Environment and Rural Development and postgraduate training in Democracy and Social Movements from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. His areas of interest include socioenviromental development, agrarian reform, and agricultural frontiers.
Débora Assumpção e Lima is Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. She also has a postdoctorate in Geography from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and has more than ten years’ experience in social movements consultancies and non-governmental organisations. Débora’s current research is focused on capital crisis and the land conflicts between traditional communities and the reproduction of commodities crops. She is a member of the Grupo de Trabalho (GT) de Estudios Críticos del Desarrollo Rural (Work Group of Critical Studies of Rural Development) of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), Casas (Collective of Agrarian Scholar-Activists from the South) and is a Researcher of the Social Network for Justice and Human Rights.
Karla Rosane Aguiar Oliveira is a PhD student at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Canada. She has worked with the ‘Water for All’ public policy in Brazil, which provided access to fresh water for more than 1 million families in situations of extreme poverty. She participates in academic projects such as the Observatory for Socio‑environmental Conflicts in Matopiba, Brazil, a network of researchers and activists which aims to understand the socio‑environmental conflicts in that region. Her main topics are water grabbing and water governance, the expansion of the agricultural frontier, and traditional populations.
Lorena Izá Pereira has a PhD in Geography from São Paulo State University (UNESP) and a postdoctoral degree from the Federal University of Paraíba (Universidade Federal da Paraíba, UFPB), Brazil. She is a Researcher at the Land Matrix Initiative-Latin America and the Caribbean (LM-LAC) and at the Center for Studies, Research and Agrarian Reform Projects (Núcleo de Estudos, Pesquisas e Projetos de Reforma Agrária, NERA/UNESP). She is also the President of the Association of Brazilian Geographers (AGB) (2020–22).
Fábio Teixeira Pitta is an Assistant Researcher in the Geography Department at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil and Coordinator of International Projects at Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos (Social Network for Justice and Human Rights). He has a master’s degree and PhD on the financialisation of the sugar cane agro-industry in Brazil in recent years, and a postdoctorate on the current Brazilian financial crisis. He has been studying the Matopiba agribusiness frontier in Brazil for over ten years.
Dernival Venâncio Ramos Júnior is a historian. He has a PhD in History (2009) from the University of Brasília, Brazil. He is currently Professor at the Federal University of Northern Tocantins, Brazil. His research focus is the recent history of the Amazon. He works with traditional communities, with an emphasis on communities affected by large development projects such as dams and agricultural projects.
Marcos Rogério Beltrão dos Santos is an environmentalist, photographer, documentary filmmaker, and member of various social movements: Grande Sertão Veredas Environmental Movement; Collective of Traditional Communities of Fundo e Fecho de Pasto of Western Bahia; Corrente river basin committee; Regional Consultative Chamber of the Middle São Francisco; Águas do Oeste Collective; and State Council for the Sustainability of Traditional Peoples and Communities.
Sérgio Sauer has a PhD in Sociology and is Professor at the University of Brasília, Brazil. He holds a Brazilian CNPq scholarship and is the coordinator of the Observatory for Socio‑environmental Conflicts in Matopiba, Brazil. He is one of the editors of the Journal of Peasant Studies and a fellow of the human rights non-governmental organisation Terra de Direitos, Brazil. His main research themes are agrarian extractivism, agricultural frontiers, land (land grabbing), and environment issues (green grabbing), rural public policies and development, agrarian social movements, and agribusiness.
Alex Shankland is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), where he convenes the Brazil International Development Research and Mutual Learning Hub. He has worked for more than two decades on health systems, indigenous and minority health, civil society, accountability, political representation, and local governance, particularly in Brazil and Mozambique. Alex has also worked extensively on the roles of Brazil and other rising powers in reshaping international development cooperation. Before joining IDS, Alex worked as a journalist, non-governmental organisation project and programme manager, independent researcher, and social development consultant, mainly in South America and southern Africa.
Anderson Antonio Silva is a PhD student in Geography at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), Brazil. He graduated with a master’s degree in Geography from São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil. He is a member of the research group BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) and of the Observatory for Socio-environmental Conflicts in Matopiba, Brazil. He is also the Director treasurer of the Brazilian Network for Research and Management in Territorial Development (Rede Brasileira de Pesquisa e Gestão em Desenvolvimento Territorial, RETE. He is author of the technical report Survey of Environmental and Land Legislation in the State of Tocantins (TO) Brazil.
Andréa Leme da Silva is a collaborator researcher at the Postgraduate Program for the Environment and Rural Development at the Faculty of Planaltina, University of Brasília, Brazil. Her research focuses on political ecology, environmental governance, and social conflicts around large-scale irrigated agriculture in the Cerrado. She also works as a consultant for international cooperation organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Interamerican Development Bank, World Bank, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on behalf of indigenous and traditional peoples in Brazil.
José Sobreiro Filho is Professor in the Geography department on the Postgraduate Program of Geography, University of Brasília, Brazil and on the TerritoriAL Postgraduate Program, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil. José conducts research on socio-territorial and social movements, contentious politics, violence and necropolitics, peasant studies, conflictuality, and the agrarian question, with a particular emphasis on Amazon and Brazil.
Gabriel Soyer is a Political Science and International Affairs PhD student at the University of Georgia (UGA), USA, specialising in Comparative Politics and Political Methodology. He is affiliated with the Brazil Natural Resource Governance Initiative at UGA. Gabriel has experience working on food policy, social protection, and development in Brazil.
Carlos de Almeida Toledo graduated in Economics (1997) from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. He has a master’s degree in Geography (Human Geography) from USP (2001), and a Doctorate in Geography (Human Geography) from USP (2008). He is a Doctor Professor of Geography in the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences (Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, FFLCH), USP, holding discussions on the following themes: territory, region, and national state, migration, labour mobility, economic politics criticism, and imperialism criticism.
Laura Trajber Waisbich is a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, UK. She is also affiliated to three Brazil-based research and policy thinktanks: the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento, CEBRAP), the South–South Cooperation Research and Policy Centre (Centro de Estudos e Articulação da Cooperação Sul-Sul, Articulação SUL), and the Igarapé Institute.