Renata Segura is currently the Associate Director of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum of the Social Science Research Council, which she joined in September 2002. As such, she has overseen dozens of research projects and workshops on challenges to democratic governance and peace in Latin America and the Caribbean, and on topics ranging from drug policy and food security to gender policies in the continent.

She has written on constitutionalism, conflict prevention and resolution, drug policy, mining and diaspora politics, among other topics. Her most recent publication is the article “Colombia en la Encrucijada” published in Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica. She is also the editor, together with Josh DeWind, of the book “Convergent Interests? How Diaspora–Government Relations Shape United States’ Foreign Policy.”

Prior to coming to the United States, she worked for the research center CINEP in Bogotá, where she was a researcher on several projects related to civil society, conflict and political crisis. In addition to her academic background, Renata worked for several years as a reporter for a nationally televised news program and a widely-read news magazine. Renata received her Ph.D. from the political science department, New School for Social Research. She also holds an M.A. in comparative politics from the New School for Social Research and a B.A. in political science from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá.