Dr Leonardo D. Villafuerte-Philippsborn of the Institute for Democracy, Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo, visited the IFSH in Hamburg for a short research stay from March 16 to 20. During his stay, he participated in academic discussions on peace and conflict studies, environmental justice, and epistemic justice.
On March 18, the guest researcher gave a lecture titled “Epistemic Justice in Environmental Conflict Governance.” Drawing on the example of the Katari River Basin in Bolivia, he showed how environmental conflict governance is shaped by unequal conditions that determine whose knowledge is recognised, whose voices are heard, and which forms of evidence are treated as legitimate. In this regard, the lecture placed epistemic justice at the centre of current debates on conflict, the environment, and democratic decision-making. Researchers from IFSH, GIGA, the Universität Hamburg, and other institutions attended the event.
Villafuerte-Philippsborn visited as part of the Global South Fellowship Programme of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (AFK), which is funded by the Foundation “Avec et pour autres” under the AFK’s project “Research opportunities for early-career researchers from the Global South.”
