Barbara Santibañez

Growing up in a post-dictatorship Chile, Barbara became interested in social justice issues and human rights activism from a very young age. With a background in political science and sociology, she strongly advocates for human rights education, historical memory, and conflict resolution as key tools in promoting social justice. A Duke-UNC Centre alumna (2015-2017), Barbara has become a recognised expert and researcher in education policy and human rights issues. Recently, she completed a PhD in Human Rights at the University of Padova (Italy), where she conducted a multiple case study research to explore secondary school teachers’ agency, perception, and beliefs about citizenship and human rights education in France.

Since 2017, Barbara has worked as consultant with the UNESCO-IIEP Learning Portal and as an assistant lecturer at the University of Bordeaux in the master’s in International Education, teaching a ‘training for trainers’ module in citizenship education, democracy, and human rights. In 2021, she joined the European Institute of Education and Social Policy as a researcher on education policy issues. Moreover, for over a decade Barbara has been involved as a volunteer and member with youth projects in the fields of human rights education, youth rights, and social justice, notably through the Human Rights Education Youth Network.