Professor Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla

Academic Director for Sustainability

Professor in Global Sustainable Development, HEA Principal Fellow

Co-director of the Oral History Network at Warwick

Co-director of the ESD Network at Warwick

Biography

I began my journey with the Global Sustainable Development Department in May 2017. Before this, I worked in the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University, in the Modern Languages Department at Wingate University and in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Princeton University. From 2019 to 2024, I served as the Head of the School for Cross-Faculty Studies. During this tenure, I led on the expansion of the undegraduate and postgraduate programmes within the Schools' various divisions. Additionally, I established a new division in Design Studies and provided crucial support for the growth of the School’s research Institute, the IGSD.

For the past two decades, my research focus has been on Cuba, delving into its culture, social justice issues and more recently, its global health initiatives. Concurrently, I've actively contributed to embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within our University's educational approach. In 2023, I co-led the Institutional Teaching & Learning Review's common theme on ESD and helped launch the ESD at Warwick Network, which I co-direct.

In my current role as Academic Director for Sustainability, I oversee the implementation of the University's "The Way to Sustainable" Strategy. This involves coordinating and integrating activities across four key areas: Sustainable Campus, Education for Sustainable Development, Research and Engagement.

Teaching and supervision

My teaching experience lies in Latin American and Caribbean studies and Human Rights within the region. I have a keen interest in integrating the social pillar of global sustainable development within my modules. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy/Advance HE, and I have extensive experience in supervising undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.

I am available for postgraduate research supervision in various areas including Human Rights and Social Justice in Latin America, Cuban history and culture, South-South Cooperation/South-North Cooperation, Medical Diplomacy, Oral History and its intersection social justice, Culture and GSD and Education for Sustainable Development.

Research

I graduated with a PhD in Hispanic Philology from the University of Granada in 2006. In 2004 I co-authored a book titled Gabo y Fidel. El paisaje de una amistad (Espasa Calpe) / Fidel and Gabo. The Portrait of a friendship (Pegasus 2010), exploring the relationship between Fidel Castro and Colombian Novel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This work was translated into six languages. My second monograph delves into the testimony of a persecuted homosexual Cuban writer in Reinaldo Arenas’ Pentagony (Tamesis Books, 2016).