Dr Andrea Rodriguez

Her academic studies, both Masters and PhD, were motivated by the work in Brazilian favelas and she has tried to combine theory and practice translating research into a social transformation in specific environments involving poverty, violence and social inequalities.

In her Masters she developed an analysis of life trajectory of community leaders in favelas in order to understand the profile of those leaders and how their actions had an impact in terms of mobilising people engaged with the development of their communities.

In her PhD she has developed extensive research on life changing processes and overcoming stigmas, in particular with regards the entrance and exit of criminal life of youth residents in deprived areas.

She has also studied team strategies and approaches used by practitioners from different fields of knowledge and intervention to engage and support these groups to improve their lives.

In 2014 she worked as a Post-doctoral Research Assistant at School of Environment to document violations against children, adolescents and their families in the context of World Cup in Brazil.

Her current field of research is generally related to Homelessness with special interest in the areas of social inequalities, oral health, psycho-social well-being, Third sector links, service users’ engagement and overcoming stigmas.