People
Faculty
Danielle Sanches
Danielle Sanches is a professor at FGV ECMI and a PhD in History of Science at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in cooperation with the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/FioCruz. She currently works on Digital Methods, focusing on the influence of the algorithm culture on social practices.
Denisson Silva
Denisson holds a PhD in Political Science (UFMG), a Master's degree in Sociology and is a Social Scientist (UFAL). He is a professor at FGV Comunicação. He has experience in Political Science, working mainly on the following themes: political parties, party migration, electoral results, and campaign financing. Researcher at the Center for Legislative Studies (CEL/UFMG), the Citizenship and Public Policy Group (UFAL).
Polyana Barbosa
Polyana Barboza is a professor working with data extraction and analysis on social networks at FGV ECMI. She has a major in Applied Mathematics at the School of Applied Mathematics of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV EMAp) and is a Master in Computer Science at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). Her main lines of research are Social Network Analysis in Digital Media and Multi-agent Systems in Software Engineering.
Victor Piaia
Victor Piaia holds a PhD in Sociology at the Institute of Social and Political Studies (IESP-UERJ). He is a professor at FGV Comunicação and a leader of the Study Group in Political Sociology and Digital Transformations. He studies the political effects of transformation in daily communication, focusing on social media platforms and messaging apps.Speakers
Anderson Henrique
Anderson Henrique is a political scientist with a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE, 2025). He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM), a FAPESP Center for Research, Innovation and Dissemination (CEPID) at the University of São Paulo (USP), under the supervision of Professor Ursula Peres (EACH-USP). He is also affiliated with the National Institute of Science and Technology on Quality of Government and Policies for Sustainable Development (INCT-QualiGov) and serves as a visiting researcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) in Brasília, contributing to the project Intergovernmental Transfers and Brazilian Federalism. His research examines how the Brazilian state responds to unexpected events, focusing on who receives federal emergency transfers, when they are allocated, and why. He uses this question as a lens to investigate federalism, state capacity, and the politics of intergovernmental transfers across Brazilian municipalities, combining quantitative research designs with qualitative evidence. He also conducts research on public policy, particularly policy implementation and evaluation, as well as on research transparency, replicability, and methodological issues in Political Science.
Beatriz Ferrareto
Beatriz Ferrareto is Partner and Executive Director of Business Development at WideLabs, a Brazilian sovereign artificial intelligence company that develops complex AI systems for critical public-sector functions and regulated industries. At WideLabs, she leads the company’s partnerships strategy, business development initiatives in Brazil, and expansion across Latin America. Before joining WideLabs, Ferrareto worked as a Digital Strategist at Bit2Me and was part of the Consumer Insights and Data Science teams at BTG Pactual, where she developed data-driven strategies for internal consulting projects. She holds a bachelor's degree in Public Administration and International Relations from FGV, with academic studies in Political Science at the University of Cologne, Germany. She also earned a CEMS Master’s in International Management through a triple-degree program at FGV (São Paulo), the Stockholm School of Economics (Stockholm), and University College Dublin (Dublin).
Elias Bitencourt
Elias Bitencourt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design at Universidade do Estado da Bahia (UNEB). He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from FACOM/UFBA and a Master's in Culture and Society from IHAC/UFBA. He was a visiting researcher at the Milieux Center (Concordia University, Canada, 2019) and currently leads the Datalab/Design at UNEB: a center for research and development in data visualization and digital methodologies. His research focuses on data visualization, algorithmic mediation in daily social life, platform studies, digital practices, and imagination. He also collaborates with the Inova Media Lab (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and the international Public Data Lab research network.
Hugo Medeiros
Hugo Medeiros holds a PhD in Education (UFPE), with postdoctoral research in Political Science (UFPE). He also holds a Licentiate Degree in History (UFPE), a Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems (UNESA), and an MBA in Data Science (DSA). He is a Government Planning Manager at the State Secretariat of Planning (SEPLAG-PE), where he currently serves as Director of Special Projects. He is also a Researcher at the Center of Excellence in Social Technologies (NEES) at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL).
Jess Reia
Jess Reia is an Assistant Professor of Data Science & Public Policy and a 2025-2027 Andrew Carnegie Fellow at the University of Virginia, where they co-lead the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab. They are also a Visiting Scholar at Fudan University and a Research Associate at the Data & Society Research Institute. Their main research interests are technology policy, data justice, and human rights. A policymaker by training, they have collaborated with governments for over a decade and conducted research that has been published in four languages. Before joining UVA, they worked at McGill University in Montreal and the Center for Technology & Society at FGV Law School in Rio de Janeiro.
Leonardo Nascimento
Leonardo F. Nascimento is a professor at the Federal University of Bahia. As the Digital Humanities Laboratory (LABHDUFBA) coordinator, he has contributed to research in digital sociology, digital humanities, and computational social science. He is the author of the book “Sociologia Digital: uma breve introdução - EDUFBA – 2020”. In his current research, he is collaborating with InternetLab, UFSC, and AI for Society on a project investigating the intersection of instant messengers and political violence and utilizing a combination of natural language processing (NLP) techniques and mixed qualitative approaches, including discourse analysis and online ethnography.
Matheus Pestana
Matheus Pestana is a professor at the School of Communication, Media, and Information at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV ECMI), a researcher at the Institute for Religious Studies (ISER), and a member of the New Illegalisms research group (GENI/UFF). He is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), where he also earned his Master's degree in the same field. His current research focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and politics/public opinion. He has interests in computer vision, large language models (LLMs), speech recognition, and image detection/segmentation.Teaching Assistants
