Dr Claire Wright

Overview

Claire Wright is Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at Ulster University in Belfast. Prior to joining UU, she was a Research Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast School of Law and member of the UKRI GCRF Gender, Justice and Security Hub. Before that, Claire held academic posts in Mexico, at Universidad de Monterrey and Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, reaching level II in the National System of Researchers (SNI).  She holds a PhD in Contemporary Political Processes and a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Modern Languages (French and Spanish) from the University of Oxford. Claire’s research focuses on the politics of human rights in Latin America, including the participation of indigenous and other ethnic peoples, peacebuilding, transitional justice, conflict over natural resource extraction, emergency powers, and colonial legacies.

This experience has given rise to 2 full-length manuscripts, 7 edited volumes, 20 journal articles, and 33 book chapters, in both English and Spanish. Claire’s work has been published by Peacebuilding, Democratization, Latin American Perspectives, Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice,Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies, Routledge, Lexington Books, and University College London, among others. She has also acted as PI or co-PI on 6 research projects in Mexico, with funders including CONACYT and SEP. Claire has held visiting academic positions at universities and research institutes in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, and Mexico. She has also been a guest speaker at the University of Santa Barbara, California, the University of Cardiff, the University of Victoria, ICIP-Barcelona, CIEPS Panama, Colegio de Mexico (COLMEX), and The Institute for Minority Rights in Italy.

Throughout her career, Claire has forged strong relationships with academic partners, government institutions, and civil society, particularly in Mexico and Colombia. She acted as an external consultant for UNDP (2015-2016) and Cooperación Española (2016), and Translator in Residence for Conflict Textiles (2022-2023). Claire has also cultivated international research networks, co-founding the Multidisciplinary Network on Indigenous Peoples (Red-EMPI), forming part of the Steering Committee of the International Transformative Justice Network, and sitting on the editorial committees of five social sciences journals based in Latin America.