Urszula Horoszko is a research associate professor and deputy director of the Corruption, Networks, and Transnational Crime Research Center (CONTRA). Her research examines migration and displacement, migrant and refugee health, NGOs in migration and health governance, and the privatization of migration systems, focusing on how networks of state and nonstate actors shape policy and humanitarian outcomes.
Horoszko brings more than 15 years of experience working across academia, government, and civil society, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and applied research. Her work is grounded in sustained partnerships with nongovernmental organizations, research institutions, and public-sector actors, and bridges academic research with policy engagement and practice. She has previously served as a senior program manager and as head of public diplomacy at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, working closely with diplomats, policymakers, academic institutions, and civil society organizations on initiatives at the intersection of culture, science, and public policy.
Horoszko holds a PhD in communication from George Mason University and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Camilo Pardo-Herrera is an international development scholar focusing on the political economy of development and its intersection with corruption, and political and criminal violence, all with a regional focus on Latin American.
His personal research agenda links different forms of organized crime, political violence, and corruption to development outcomes in the Latin American region. He has also done extensive work on the political economy of natural resource extraction in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Pardo-Herrera brings an excellent combination of personal experience designing and implementing national-level policy to address organized crime and corruption, a profound commitment for evidence-based policy analysis and design, and strong analytical and methodological capacities to pose and answer complex development questions.
Prior to his academic life, he gathered more than 15 years of experience working on conflict management, post-conflict reconstruction, human rights issues, and natural resource management in the Latin American region. He did so while working for national governments, the civil society, and multilateral development organizations.
Pardo-Herrera finished his PhD in public policy at George Mason University and his master’s degree in democracy and democratization from the University College London thanks to a Chevening Scholarship awarded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
He has presented his research––among other places––at the World Bank, the Organization of American States, the United Nations, as well as at academic forums around Europe and the Americas.
Pardo-Herrera currently teaches at Texas Tech University–Costa Rica and consults on different economic development issues for private and multilateral organizations.