Ivette Hernandez Santibanez

Dr Ivette Hernandez is a political sociologist who teaches Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the School of Social Sciences. Before joining the University of Manchester, she taught at King’s College London, UCL Institute of Education (IOE), Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and the Adolfo Ibanez University in Chile.  

Ivette’s research lies at the intersection of social movements, urban politics, contestation to neoliberalism in Latin America – with a particular focus on free-market education policy agendas, and transformation of democratic state-society relations in the region. Her PhD thesis examined the socio-spatial constitution of the Chilean student movement and its role in collectively organising, through demanding free public quality education for all, a larger political strategy to transcend neoliberalism in Chile and transform state-civil society relations within a post-authoritarian democratic society.

Prior to the completion of her PhD at University College London, she worked as a practitioner and education adviser on education, poverty, human rights, and development in post-conflict settings in Latin America.