grantees » Maria Pia Marchegiani

Pía Marchegiani is a young academic participating in the debate on sustainable development in Latin America, particularly in Argentina. From an early age on Pía has had a deep sense of duty to her community, leading her to volunteer in various NGOs specializing in the improvement of vulnerable communities in Argentina. Her studies have taken her to South Africa, India and eventually Germany where she obtained a Master of Arts degree in Social Sciences. Pía now works in the Environmental and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN) in Argentina. FARN’s principal objective is to promote sustainable development through policy and law. As Citizen´s Participation Area coordinator in FARN, Pía handles various responsibilities such as research, lecturing, project management and networking with other organizations.

Pía applied for a grant to improve her academic knowledge and research skills concerning lithium extraction in Latin America. She has used this grant to take seminars on qualitative and quantitative research strategies at the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO-Argentina), and to make preparations for a field work project. This took place in the Argentinean Puna region, where Lithium is exploited. Here she identified the main stakeholders involved in lithium extraction and studied the decision-making process for  exploiting Lithium, conducted interviews and collected empirical data on these topics.

The field work project has increased Pía’s awareness of the current academic debates on lithium extraction. She also developed a network of professionals working on similar topics and took part in a regional conference in Ecuador. The findings of this research will be used for her PhD program. The ultimate objective of accomplishing her studies “is to contribute to the know-how and debates on the democracy and sustainable development in Latin America.”