Ana Maria Vargas holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Law from Lund University and the University of Milan. She is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology of Law at Lund University, where she also serves as Director of Studies. Her research examines how vulnerable communities affected by climate change engage, both openly and in hidden ways, with legal systems. She focuses on legal empowerment, environmental justice, and resistance from below, and has led numerous international and transdisciplinary projects funded by Formas, the Swedish Research Council, and other major donors. She comes from Colombia where she studied law and specialised in Constituional Law at the National University.
Her work combines ethnographic and participatory approaches to study climate adaptation, biodiversity protection, and socio-legal transformations, producing widely cited publications and practical tools. Ana Maria has collaborated closely with environmental defenders, NGOs, and local communities across Latin America, Africa, and Europe, bringing a unique perspective that bridges academic research and applied strategies for legal empowerment in the face of the triple planetary crisis.
From 2017 to 2024, she served as Director of Research at the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy, where she advanced human rights city initiatives in collaboration with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. In 2025, she was awarded the International Fellowship for Research Excellence at the University of Adelaide to develop a project on pluriversal understandings of kwnoledge policy exchanges. Her contributions have been recognized globally: her work was featured in 10 Insights in Climate Science (2024), she presented her research at COP 2024 in Azerbaijan, and her Ph.D. thesis received the award for Best Dissertation in Sweden in the field of Working Life Research.
Currently, Ana Maria leads the Formas-funded project Preparing for the Unprecedented: Enabling local knowledges for effective adaptation in the Amazon (2025–2030) and participates in other research projects such as the Horizon Europe project Assessing the socio-politics of nature-based solutions for inclusive and resilient communities (2023–2026). In 2025, she co-founded the Transnational Law Clinic: Defending a Living Earth (DEFEND-BIO) with Claudia Ituarte Lima at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. This clinic, part of the DefendBio project financed by Biodiversa+, supports biosphere defenders by developing legal tools and strategies to advance environmental human rights and climate adaptation.
*Affiliated Scholars at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute are encouraged to contribute independent research and analysis. All views and opinions expressed by Affiliated Scholars in publications, interviews, or public appearances are their own and do not represent institutional positions of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute.