Biography

Virginia Rocha received her PhD in Political Science from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE, Brazil) in 2022, from which she also holds an MA and undergraduate degree in Political Science. During her PhD, she was also a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford (2018-2019). Virginia is a researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Applied Economics Research. Before receiving her PhD, she also worked in the government and the third sector, monitoring a project on education in partnership with the World Bank and coordinating a social project on civic engagement for public school students, respectively.

Her main research interests are in comparative politics, including corruption, public transparency, accountability and political dynasties. Virginia examined the relationship between political dynasties and government transparency for her doctoral research by developing a novel way to collect information on dynastic kinship. During her time as a Max Weber Fellow, she will expand this work and explore the effects of dynastic politicians on the quality of government.

Virginia has also taught courses for undergraduate students on Political Science, focused on political institutions and Political Theory as a temporary professor at UFPE, Brazil. Before that, she taught courses on evidence-based public policy for citizens and public servants at the Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco.