We are TREES, an initiative of the University of the Andes that unites research, teaching and outreach to understand inequalities inequalities in all their complexity. We seek to study them in a broad manner -in its social, economic, political, cultural and environmental dimensions, political, cultural and environmental dimensions-. and to do so from the contexts where they manifest themselves most strongly most strongly: the countries of the South, especially Latin America.
Creation of TREES
EPE Network Meeting Santa Fe
EPE Network Meeting Cairo
Research Grant Fund I Call for Proposals
Creation of the TREES visual identity
Creation of the Community of Practice (CoP)
First CoP Knowledge Dialogue
Launching of the first pedagogical teaching resources
Launching of social networks
First Territorial Dialogue on Inequality - Cali
Care Congress
The Washington Consensus
Territorial Dialogue Medellín
Grant Fund II Call for Proposals
First predoctoral fellow
Community of Practice Meeting
Launching of the first Café with TREES
Barranquilla Territorial Dialogue
Visit CMPR Community of Practice
Grant Fund III Call for Proposals
Community of Practice Meeting
Bucaramanga Territorial Dialogue
Master City Meeting
Territorial Dialogue Florence
Summer Institute
EPE Network Meeting Mexico
TREES 2024 Challenge
First CEDE - TREES document published
Complexity Global School 2024
First pedagogical laboratory
Villavicencio Territorial Dialogue
Grant Fund I Workshop
PEGS Conference Cairo
Launching of the TREES Sheets Newsletter
Last Territorial Dialogue on Inequality - Bogota
Session TREES Congress Economics
Student Congress Cali
Corona Foundation Meeting
Teaching at COP-16
Vox Pop Ugly Betty the Ugly
LATAM Triad Inequities Congress
Second CEDE-TREES document published
Teaching Initiatives Meeting
ECINEQ PRAEM TREES Session
Course Doing Economics 2
Welcome Advisory Committee
First students sent for international study abroad
Cinema and Inequality Course
Special focus on education and social cohesion
Grant Fund II Workshop
First Module of face-to-face teaching
Education and Social Cohesion Forum
London Global Meeting
Soacha Community of Practice Event
Doctoral Dissertation Camp
Complexity Global School 2025
Special Environmental Justice
First e-learning module
Whither Meritocracy?
Launching of TREES
AI, Ethics, and Society Conference - AIES
Triad Congress Violence and (in)security in Latin America
Third and fourth CEDE-TREES documents issued
Second meeting with the Advisory Committee
Fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth CEDE-TREES documents issued
Closing Interdepartmental TREES Challenge 2025
Our name, Teaching and Researching Equitable Economics from the South, sums up our essence: an initiative that connects knowledge, education and dissemination to generate real improvements in the way we understand and address inequalities in Latin America.
Transforming reality requires changing the thinking that sustains it.
The inequalities in Latin America are historical and structural. They are not limited to income: they affect education, health, political representation and opportunities. political representation and opportunities.
In contexts of distrust and polarization, it is not enough to create new programs or isolated policies. programs or isolated policies. We must transform how we understand inequalities.
To counteract the implications of inequalities, the work must advance in several dimensions, all guided and informed by rigorous knowledge.
Reveals the root causes and consequences of inequality.
Wear these apprenticeships to the classroom, from school to university.
Translates the evidence in accessible public conversations.
These three areas allow better understand the origin of inequalities, their costs for society as a whole, and contribute to changing the way the problem is perceived.
Talking about inequalities can arouse conflicting positions and criticisms are an opportunity for dialogue. and criticism is an opportunity for dialogue.
In this process, TREES also plays a hinge role between the global south and the global north. global north: connects contexts, disciplines and perspectives so that knowledge circulates in both directions and is nourished by the diversity of experiences.
The system that produces the ideas, narratives, and conceptual frameworks through which inequalities are inequalities are understood, taught and discussed.. Thus:
And when decisions change, real possibilities for social transformation open up.
Founders and management
Research Leader & Co-Founder
He is a full professor of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes and PhD in Economics from MIT. His work is located at the intersection between political economy, development and economic history, with emphasis on institutions, conflict, fiscal policy, media and inequality.
At TREES she leads the research agenda on the roots and consequences of inequality and coordinates the evaluation of program interventions. Her experience leading multidisciplinary teams and research centers strengthens the methodological rigor and international projection of the research component.
Teaching Leader
She is Associate Professor of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes and PhD in Economics at the University of Rochester. Her research focuses on microeconomics, game theory, market design, axiomatic resource allocation and matching theory.
At TREES she leads the teaching component, leading the curriculum design, the creation of pedagogical resources and the work with the Community of Practice. Her combination of rigorous theoretical training and pedagogical leadership strengthens the integration of equity in different educational contexts.
Outreach Leader | Co-Founder
He is a full professor of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes and PhD in Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research focuses on collective action, cooperation and institutional design to solve social dilemmas in an equitable and sustainable way, combining laboratory and field experiments with work in communities and public policy spaces.
At TREES she leads the outreach and advocacy strategy, connecting research and teaching with media, regional alliances and decision makers. She also directs the Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Latin America and the Caribbean (CODS), strengthening the dialogue between academia, society and public policy.
Co-founder
She is a tenured professor at the Faculty of Economics and Vice Rector of Research and Creation at the Universidad de los Andes. She is an economist and political scientist from this university, with a master's degree in Economics and in Economic Epistemology from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Paris X Nanterre.
Her research focuses on economic philosophy and the relationship between economic philosophy and political philosophy, with special interest in the history of economic thought and the philosophy of science. In TREES she was the creator and co-founder of the initiative, providing a conceptual basis for understanding and teaching the challenges of combating inequality from the Global South.
General Coordination
General Coordinator of TREES
She holds a degree in International Relations, a master's degree in Economics from UNAM and a master's degree in International Cooperation and Development from the University of Cantabria. She has more than ten years of experience in management and implementation of programs in Latin America, especially in education, environment and institutional strengthening.
At TREES, he coordinates the strategic operation of the program: he articulates teams, funding and allies, accompanies the design and execution of calls for proposals and ensures the efficient implementation of projects and international alliances.
Teaching Team
Teaching Coordinator
She is an economist and holds a Master's degree in Economics from Universidad de los Andes. She is a professor of Pensando Problemas at the Universidad de los Andes and was a complementary professor of Game Theory at the same university. She works at the National Administrative Department of Statistics in the poverty and inequality team. She has participated in different volunteer programs that promote equity in different educational contexts. Her areas of interest are early childhood education, the elimination of inequality gaps and poverty.
TREES supports the articulation of the teaching agenda, the work with teachers and the consolidation of pedagogical resources that connect research with classroom practices.
Community of Practice Coordinator
He has a degree in Education with emphasis in Humanities and a PhD in Education from the Universidad de los Andes. During his doctorate he researched on the role of communities of practice in the development of pedagogical practices.
At TREES she coordinates the Community of Practice and the Pedagogical Laboratories, promoting peer learning and the collective construction of resources to teach social justice and equity.
Teaching Assistant
She is a student of Government and Public Affairs with an option in sociology at the Universidad de los Andes. Since 2024, she is a member of the Youth Network for SDG 4 of UNESCO. She worked in the Colombian delegation to UNESCO and has worked as a research assistant at the Universidad de los Andes in projects related to education, entrepreneurship, community empowerment and socioemotional learning.
At TREES, she coordinates the seedbed that accompanies undergraduate students to reflect on inequalities and equity from research, teaching and dissemination. She also manages the Resource Bank, thus promoting the training of young researchers and the creation of educational materials on equity.
Communications and Outreach Team
Communications Coordinator
She is a social communicator and journalist, and holds a master's degree in Journalism from Universidad de los Andes. She has ten years of experience in the design and implementation of communication strategies that translate complex research into clear and accessible narratives.
At TREES, he leads the editorial and multimedia strategy, developing content, campaigns and formats that broaden the public conversation on inequalities.
TREES Designer
She is a designer at Universidad de los Andes and is responsible for the visual development of TREES. She leads the creation of graphic pieces, digital products and multimedia formats that translate research and teaching into clear, coherent and accessible visual experiences.
Their work strengthens the project's identity and contributes to bringing knowledge about inequalities to diverse audiences in a rigorous and attractive way.
