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.

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).

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.

Publications

Books

• El testimonio en la Pentagonía de Reinaldo Arenas, Tamesis Books, 2016
• With A. Esteban, Gabo y Fidel. El paisaje de una amistad, Espasa, 2004 (Translated into English, Polish, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean and Turkish).

Selected journal articles and book chapters

• With Lee, Jo & Zhou, Kevin, "Quality Assurance Processes as an opportunity to further embed ESD in Higher Education: Successes and Challenges" (manuscript under review).
• with Séverine Hubscher-Davidson, "Global Sustainable Development and the Wellbeing of Language Professionals", Routledge Handbook of the Translation Industry (awaiting publication).
• with Paula Michaels, "An unbreakable friendship: Soviet medical internationalism in 1960s Cuba", History Australia (2024), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/14490854.2024.2371568Link opens in a new window.
• with Mouzayian Khalil Babatunde, "Challenges of cooperation for development: A case-study analysis of Cuban health solidarity programmes in Nigeria", Journal of International Development 35:7 (2023): 1833-1851.
• "Laughter in Oral Histories of Displacement: "One goes on a mission to solve their problems", Oral History Review 47:1 (2020): 73-92.
• With Virginie Grzelczyk, "A Future, but at what Cost? Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Quest for Sustainable Development", Third World QuarterlyLink opens in a new window 40: 6 (2019): 1163-83.
• With Christophe Panichelli, “Humorous Sublimation of a Dying Cuban Writer in Reinaldo Arenas’ The Color of Summer”, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 31: 4 (2018): 623-43.
• With Olga Saavedra de Oca, “Dealing with Sensitive Topics in Communist Societies: Oral History Research in and on Cuba”, Oral HistoryLink opens in a new window 45: 2 (2017): 31-8.
• “Cuban Doctors in the Sandinista Nicaragua: Challenging Orthodoxies”, Oral HistoryLink opens in a new window 45: 2 (2017): 39-49.
• With Séverine Hubscher-Davidson. “Educating for Sustainability in Language Degrees: A Tale of Two Case StudiesLink opens in a new window”. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 17: 3 (2016): 404-16.
• “Autofiction as a fictional metaphorical self-translation: The case of Reinaldo Arenas’ El color del veranoLink opens in a new window.” Journal of Romance Studies, Vol. 15 (Spring 2015), Issue I: 29-53.
• “La nostalgia y el exilio: comparación entre “Final de un cuento” de Reinaldo Arenas y Paso a nivel de Manuel Díaz Martínez”, in Piney, Grace and Pancrazio, James. Cuba: Arte y Literatura en exilio, Legua editorial, 2011, 45-54.
• “Una novela inédita de Reinaldo Arenas”. Revista Caribe 11: 2 (Winter 2008-2009): 51-60.
• “Otra vez el mar… Los cantos de Reinaldo Arenas”. Revista Hispanocubana 30 (Jan.-Apr. 2008): 125-142.
• “García Márquez y Cuba desde la perspectiva de César Leante”. Creación y Exilio. Memorias del I Encuentro Internacional Con Cuba en la distancia. Cádiz: ed. Hispanocubana, 2003, 182-188.

Special issue

• “Oral History and Cuba.” (ed.), Oral History (2017)

Other publications

• By sending doctors to Italy, Cuba continues its long campaign of medical diplomacy, (The Conversation, 26 March 2020)
• Castro’s Legacy: Cuban doctors still go abroad, but are not driven by international solidarity anymore (The Conversation, 30 Nov. 2016)
• The public and private faces of the friendship between Fidel Castro and Gabriel García Márquez (The Conversation, 12 December 2016)
• “Cuba’s Medical DrainLink opens in a new window” Cuba Counterpoints. Public Scholarship about a Changing Cuba (4 July 2015)
• With Cristian Batalla Candas, “El Blog de Medicina Cubana: información y denunciaLink opens in a new window”. Cubaencuentro (6 Sep. 2013)
• “La generación del silencio (I)Link opens in a new window. El éxodo del Mariel, 25 años después: Un acercamiento a los escritores e intelectuales que abandonaron la Isla para ejercer la creación artística y la libertad de expresión”. Encuentro en la red (22 Apr. 2005)
• “La generación del silencio (II)Link opens in a new window. El éxodo del Mariel, 25 años después: Un acercamiento a los escritores e intelectuales que abandonaron la Isla para ejercer la creación artística y la libertad de expresión”. Encuentro en la red (11 May 2005)
• “Quién es quién: Los escritores del MarielLink opens in a new window”. Encuentro en la red (22 Apr. 2005)

Selected conference papers and invited presentations

• “Laughter in Oral History interviews. The case of Cuban internationalist healthcare professionals”, Conference of the Latin American Association of Oral History, Bogota, Colombia, 4-6 April 2019.
• “Oral History and Cuba: past, present and future”, International workshop “Oral History in 21^st century Latin America and the Caribbean”, 23 February 2018.
• With Virginie Grzelczyk, “Opening the Door to Change: Developing a sustainable future for Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, International Studies Association, Global South Caucus Conference, Havana 8 July 2017.
• “The Role of Humour in Oral History Interviews. A case study of two Cuban Internationalist Healthcare Professionals”, Cuba Research Forum Annual Conference, University of Nottingham, 6 September 2016.
• “Cuban Doctors in the Sandinista Nicaragua. Sharing Memories”, “Oral History and Cuba: A Changing Society?”, One-day workshop with invited speakers, Aston University, Birmingham, 23 April 2015.
• “Roundtable on Archival Research”, Languages and Social Sciences Research Seminars Series, Aston University, Birmingham, 22 April 2015.
• “From pride to humiliation: an Oral History project in Hialeah”, Hispanic Seminars Series, University of Birmingham, 11 February 2015.
• “Life stories of Cuban health workers in international solidarity missions”, Poder y Democracia: Las multiples voces de la Historia Oral, XVIII Congreso de la IOHA (International Oral History Association), 10 July 2014.
• “Life stories of Cuban internationalist health professionals”, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami, 17 June 2014.
• “Blogging: a new way of life writing in Cuba: the case of Dr. Eloy A. González”, AHGBI Conference, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom, 25 March 2013.
• “Autofiction as a literary revenge: Reinaldo Arenas’ The Color of Summer”, AHGBI Conference, Stirling University, Stirling, United Kingdom, 2 April 2012.
• “El color del verano de Reinaldo Arenas: ¿ficción o testimonio?”, 61st Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, Kentucky, 18 April 2008.
• “Otra vez el mar... Los cantos de Reinaldo Arenas”. 2007 SECOLAS (Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies) Annual Meeting: “Contesting Images of Latin America”, San José, Costa Rica, 20 April 2007.
• “Qué dura fue la vida de Reinaldo Arenas”, Race, Revolution and Representation: New Perspectives on Latin America, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, USA, 24 February 2007.

Workshop organised

• "Hidden Stories of 21st Century Latin America and the Caribbean", International workshop with invited speakers, University of Warwick, Coventry, 21 February 2018.
• “Oral History and Cuba: A Changing Society?”, One-day international workshop with invited speakers, Aston University, Birmingham, 23 April 2015.