Dr Gardiana Bandeira-Melo is a Post-Doctoral Researcher, on the project ‘International Student Mobility and World Development’, leading research on countries at the South of the Sahara.
She underwent training in Critical Development Studies and Political Economy of the Global South at Cardiff Metropolitan University (PhD) and the Sorbonne University (BSc and MSc).
Her career straddles, the worlds of academia and government, over three continents (Africa, Europe/Asia and the Americas) in the areas of development, politics and ethics.
Dr Bandeira-Melo’s research delves into the nexus of indigenous African knowledge, decoloniality and climate justice. It employs mixed research designs and interdisciplinary frameworks, namely Critical Race Theory and Theories of Change, where these relate to responses to colonial legacies and socioeconomic and environmental transformations.
She seeks to understand, through the lived experiences and perspectives of people from Africa and the Diaspora, how traditional African science and culture are employed to overcome mechanisms of oppression, inequalities and climate disruption. Her work aims to offer counter-narratives to representations of African backwardness and helplessness, amplifying the voices of African and Afro-descendants and highlighting their contributions to the global community.
