Giovani Rocha is a graduate student in the Joint PhD in Political Science and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a MSc in Government, Institutions and Public Policy from the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (EBAPE/FGV) and a BA in Economics from the Brazilian Institute of Markets and Capitals (IBMEC-RJ).
He is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and, prior to starting the Joint PhD at UPenn, he worked for the government in Brazil at the local and federal levels. He worked at the Secretariat of Education of Pará as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank, at the World Bank and at the Brazilian Ministry of Education. He has already worked as a consultant and conducted trainings and workshops focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and race relations in Brazil in organizations such as the Lemann Foundation, Fundação Estudar, Vetor Brasil and the Brazilian Ministry of Social Development. With more than 10 years of experience leading social projects focused on black youth in Brazil, Giovani has studied and represented the country in various conferences and programs in countries like Panama, Colombia, Portugal, the United States and the UK. Giovani is also a fellow at Fundação Estudar, an alumni at the United States Department of State and the British Council and has been a TED speaker twice.
His research interests involve the intersection of politics, black activism and racial policy in Latin American countries, with a particular interest in policies implemented at the local level in countries like Brazil and Colombia.