Class XXIV (2026–2027)

Lya Amanda Rossa is a researcher and a human rights and development professional from Brazil, whose academic background is Bachelor of Laws (2015) and MSc. in Social and Human Sciences (2018). She conducted versatile academic studies related to immigration policies in Brazil, access to rights of migrants and refugees and the intersection between gender, health and migration (2012-2018), also leading an ethnographic field research on transgenerational feminine angolan migration in São Paulo (2016-2018), whilst being an activist for migrants and refugees’ rights as a free-lance journalist and volunteer to several local organizations providing assistance to asylum-seekers in Brazil. She also has expertise in field-based projects in international organizations (World Vision, Pan American Development Foundation/ PADF and UN Migration), acting as project assistant and project coordinator in Southern Brazil and the Amazonian region with an intersectional approach to gender, livelihoods, first nation populations, WASH, community level environmental projects and fundraising. Her latest work is aimed at strengthening civil society organizations through training, fundraising and corporate social investment, inspired by advocacy asymmetries that generate conflict and inequality enclosed in corporate-community conflicts and collective human rights and environmental violations in South America.

The placement as a Rotary Peace Fellow stands for an expansion of her professional expertise in the areas of project management for NGOs, grassroots and civil society organizations standing for human rights, and the development of critical academic and evaluation skills to conduct research in the field of economic development, advocacy and human rights due diligence within the Latin-American region.