Claudia Blandon has a background in Anthropology, Sociology, International Human Rights Law and Forced Migration Studies. Her doctoral work is a multidisciplinary study between education and forced migration studies that explores the role Human Rights Education programmes play in shaping notions of empowerment amongst women who have experienced displacement in Colombia. Claudia is finding that using a Feminist New Materialist approach has been helpful in illuminating how localised understandings of materiality contribute to perceptions of empowerment.
As a Doctoral Teaching Assistant, the focus of her teaching is on gender, research ethics and praxis for change. Claudia is also a Research Affiliate of the Internal Displacement Research Programme (IDRP) and a member of the Feminist Theory Working Group of the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) hosted by the School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Prior to undertaking her doctoral studies, Claudia worked as a researcher conducting applied and academic research in diverse contexts and with varied populations in England, Europe and North Africa. Thanks to colleagues at the University of Plymouth Institute of Education, she has been able to explore her research interests in collaborative and arts-based research practices, research ethics with populations deemed vulnerable and posthumanist methodologies in education.
In 2015, with Professor Jocey Quinn, her doctoral Director of Studies, Claudia was a co-applicant in a successful Arts Council England Research Grant – one of only eight funded nationally that year – that used an innovative methodological approach to explore the role of music in promoting inclusion.