The September 1 In 2026, we held the feedback workshop for the TREES-EGAP Research Small Grant, a forum designed to allow researchers in the advanced stages of their projects to receive feedback on their work before they complete it. Participants read the research papers before arriving at the workshop. This format allows everyone to familiarize themselves with the research articles in advance so that, during the live session, they can provide constructive feedback and receive high-quality comments.

The experiences of researchers studying inequality from the perspectives of economics, psychology, the social sciences, and other fields can shed light on questions, tensions, and consequences that are not always apparent from a single perspective. For this reason, the feedback workshop becomes a fundamental part of the research process.

This diversity also makes it possible to question concepts that are often taken for granted within a discipline. Mateo Uribe, a professor in the School of Economics at Uniandes and a workshop participant, stated that during the workshop, discussions arose on topics such as what it really means to talk about public goods: What portion of what the government funds and provides actually benefits society as a whole, and what portion ends up benefiting certain groups to a greater extent than others?. 

Uribe also noted that these forums are especially useful for articles that are already underway but still have a long way to go: “These are forums designed to gather feedback on the work we’re doing. […] There’s a group of people who have read the work you’re producing and who have taken the time to understand it and think about how it can be improved.” 

Thus, the TREES-EGAP Research Small Grant It does not merely provide financial support for research; it also seeks to create the conditions for that research to be discussed while it is still in progress. Peer discussion allows projects to open up to new questions, enables researchers to identify blind spots, and allows familiar concepts to be reexamined from different perspectives. 

Ultimately, researching inequalities also means asking ourselves from where we're looking at them. By bringing together projects that take such different approaches, the workshop demonstrates that understanding inequalities requires connecting questions and perspectives that might otherwise remain separate. 

Through the East Small Grant, TREES and EGAP are strengthening research that not only seeks to generate evidence on inequalities but also to subject that evidence to discussion, criticism, and peer exchange. Because broadening the ways we look at a problem can also broaden our possibilities for understanding it. 

See more photos from the workshop here.

A total of 54 researchers have participated in the TREES Research Grant Fund workshops. They are conducting 40 research projects and come from 10 different disciplines and 3 countries: Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay—an academic network that transcends institutions and borders.

Understanding inequalities requires high-quality research. To this end, it is important to create spaces where researchers from Latin America, representing various disciplines, can engage in dialogue, question their own approaches, and collectively develop new research questions. That is why we created the TREES Research Grant Fund, whose purpose is to fund research projects and foster an academic community committed to broadening our understanding of inequalities from multiple perspectives. 

The first Research Grant Fund workshop was the September 27, 2024 and brought together economists, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, and historians for the first time, who shared their projects in a space designed to foster the exchange of ideas and strengthen their research through interdisciplinary dialogue. 

From this first meeting, it became clear that the value of this initiative goes beyond funding. Bringing together researchers from different disciplines allowed each project to receive feedback from various fields, broadening the analytical frameworks for addressing inequalities. 

Watch the video summary of the First Grant Fund Workshop.  

During the second workshop, the May 7, 2025, the participants presented their ongoing research and received feedback from colleagues. This session proved particularly valuable because it allowed them to identify strengths, challenge assumptions, and explore new lines of analysis before completing their studies. 

For James Torres, a professor of history and geography at the Universidad de los Andes, said, “The workshop is fantastic because it brings together an interdisciplinary team of economists, historians, political scientists, and lawyers all discussing the same topic: inequality.” 

The discussions addressed topics as diverse as the role of the state in land distribution, the reconstruction of women’s place in economic history, informal employment, social mobility, the cultural dimensions of inequality, and the challenges of applying models developed in the Global North to Latin American contexts. 

That diversity also transformed the research itself. Natalia Amaya, a researcher at the Prolongar Foundation, highlighted how the conversation with other participants opened up new possibilities for her work: “I really liked the comparative perspective. One of the professors suggested we look at classism versus the caste system in India, something we hadn’t considered.” 

Similarly, Emiliano Tealde, an economist and professor at the Catholic University of Uruguay, highlighted the value of receiving feedback while the project was still in development: “It’s very constructive to receive comments from colleagues at this stage. Concerns arise, as do weaknesses one might have suspected, but there are also suggestions that help improve the work.” 

As explained Leopoldo Fergusson, head of research at TREES, “We want to look at inequality not only from a strictly economic perspective. This has led to a very rich mix of perspectives on its causes and consequences.” 

Watch the video summary of the second workshop.

The third edition of the workshop was held on February 17 of 2026. The researchers spent the meeting discussing the progress of their projects and receiving feedback from their colleagues. This approach fostered more in-depth conversations about the methodologies, findings, and challenges of each research project. This way of working was appreciated by the participants, as noted by Sebastián Fleitas, professor at the Catholic University of Chile: “I think it’s very important to have a space for reflection on inequality where different perspectives can contribute, build on one another, and address the problem of inequality in Latin America and its solutions.” 

Beyond academic exchange, the workshop also strengthened a research community committed to producing knowledge in a rigorous and collaborative manner. Luz Ángela Rodríguez, a professor in the School of Rural Studies at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, noted: “Thinking collectively about inequalities provides us not only with a learning community, but also with the opportunity to develop new ideas for further research and, ideally, to influence public policy processes.” 

Watch the video summary of the third workshop. 

Over the course of the three editions, the following have participated 54 researchers, which develop 40 investigations from 10 disciplines different and 6 cities in Latin America: Bogotá, Medellín, Santa Marta, Villavicencio, Putumayo, Santiago, Chile, and Montevideo. This consolidates an academic network that transcends institutions and borders. 

Several of these studies are already part of the TREES Research Repository and continue to provide evidence to help us understand the multiple dimensions of inequality. When research is open to the exchange of ideas and peer feedback, it expands its capacity to understand the root causes of inequalities and generate evidence that contributes to the design of public policies and other initiatives aimed at building more equitable societies.