Debora Gershon
Political Scientist and general manager at Poliarco Political Intelligence, Gershon holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP-UERJ). Visiting Scholar in 2018 at the University of California of San Diego (UCSD) as a postdoctoral researcher, Gershon is specialist in political analysis and legislative monitoring, with extensive experience in project management, negotiation process, stakeholder mapping, public policy evaluation, strategic planning and advocacy in both governmental and non-governmental organizations. She was a partner of several internationally renowned institutions (UN, UNDP, World Bank etc.) to producing development projects and studies on the Brazilian political and social scenario. Currently, she is also a researcher at the Observatory on the Brazilian Legislative (OLB).
Fabiano Santos
Political Scientist, associate professor and researcher at the Institute of Social and Political Studies of State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP / UERJ). Ph.D. in Political Science from the Rio de Janeiro University Research Institute (IUPERJ / 1994), he is the coordinator of the Research Group " Congress Studies Center "(NECON) and the Brazilian Legislature Observatory” (OLB, both from IESP/UERJ). Santos is Post-doctoral scholar in political science at the University of California San Diego, where he is also visiting professor. Former president of the Brazilian Political Science (ABCP - 2008/2012) and the National Association for Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences (ANPOCS -2017/2018), he was a guest columnist for the newspapers O Valor Econômico and Jornal do Brasil. He is an expert on legislative studies, Brazilian political institutions, conjuncture analysis and scenarios of Brazilian politics.
João Feres Jr.
Political Scientist, associate professor and current diretor of the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP/UERJ). Feres Jr. holds a PhD in Political Science from the City University of New York, Graduate center. He is one of the coordinators of the Observatory on the Brazilian Legislative (OLB) and of the Laboratory on Media and the Public Sphere (LEMEP), which produces the news media watchdog website Manchetômetro (www.mancetometro.com.br) containing quantitative analysis of the mainstream press coverage of politics and economics and of Facebooks pages dedicated to politics. Feres Jr. has published extensively on media and politics, political theory, and politics in Brazil.
Júlio Canello
Lawyer and Political Scientist. Ph.D. and Master in Political Science from IESP / UERJ, where he also held a postdoctoral degree. He was a visiting researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a student at Harvard University. He is also a Specialist in Brazilian Political Thinking from UFSM, where he studied Social Sciences and Law. He is a lawyer for federal civil servants and has advised civil society organizations. He has experience in data analysis, legislative studies and judicial behavior. His academic research has been awarded nationally and internationally (National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences, Latin American Association of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies magazine).
Leonardo Barbosa
Political scientist and teacher working in Rio de Janeiro. He holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in History from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP/UERJ). His graduate work focused on Brazilian political thought (for his master’s), with emphasis on the concepts of democracy and nationalism, and on party conflict in contemporary Brazil (for his doctorate), respectively. He is a researcher at the Congressional Studies Center (NECON) and the Brazilian Legislative Observatory (OLB), having extensive experience in analyzing political scenarios with a focus on party behavior and the legislative arena. He also conducts research on Brazilian political history, particularly on representative institutions and political parties. He has worked in teaching for years.