Rodrigo Curty Pereira

Postdoctoral Scholar
Rodrigo Curty Pereira

Rodrigo Curty Pereira works as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan, where he investigates equity in global health. Rodrigo completed hid PhD in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo in September 2025. He studied the role of civil society organizations collaborating with communities to create solutions to inequities in access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) in Brazil. His research also investigated inequities in the experience of wellbeing from the lens of political ecology.

Dr. Curty Pereira has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, which influences his interest in global health, alongside his specialization in health geography and research work in health inequities, vaccine distribution, and funding for global health research.

Rodrigo is passionate about research that promotes health equity globally and has received several awards for academic excellence, including the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Marzieh Foroutan Memorial Graduate Scholarship, the David Johnston International Experience Award, and the Mitacs Globalink Graduate Fellowship

Title

Ph.D in Geography (water) 

Why GoHelP: 

"The GoHelP lab is a community. Everyone is welcome here and all experiences and ideas are valued. I chose to be a part of this research group because I admired everyone who was a part of it, and I felt like they were willing to support me. This has been true throughout every step of my academic journey here."

Publications

  • Brisbois, B., Plamondon, K., Walugembe, D., Curty Pereira, R., Edet, C., Dixon, J., Habibi, R., Karamouzian, M., Labonte, R., Murthy, S., & Ravitsky, V. (2024). Pandemics, intellectual property and ‘our economy’: A worldview analysis of Canada’s role in compromising global access to COVID-19 vaccines. Global Public Health, 19(1), 2335360. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2024.2335360
  • Curty Pereira, R., Elliott, S. J., & Llaguno Cárdenas, P. (2023). Stepping into the Void: Lessons Learned from Civil Society Organizations during COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085507
  • Curty Pereira, R. (2022). Political economy of south-south relations: an analysis of BRICS’ investment protection agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean. Third World Quarterly.
  • Curty, R. (2021). The other side of the renminbi: applying Robert Cox’s Critical Theory to the China-Latin American relations. Revista NEIBA, 10, 1-17. doi:https://doi.org/10.12957/neiba.2021.58881
  • Curty Pereira, R., & Garcia, A. (2021). The critical theory of Robert W. Cox as a method for analyzing the relations between China and Latin America. Oikos, 20(2), 184-201. 
  • Garcia Saggioro, A., Curty, R., Aguiar, A. C., Rezende, L., & Dantas, M. V. (2021). The BRICS facing the COVID-19 pandemic: a preliminary analysis of compared policies. Conjuntura Internacional(2), 33-46. doi: https://doi.org/10.5752/P.1809-6182.2020v17n3p33-46
  • Plamondon, K., Dixon, J., Brisbois, B., Curty, R., Bisung, E., Elliott, S., Graham, I., Ndube-Eyoh, S., Nixon, S., and Shahram, S. (2023). “Turning the tide on inequity through Systematic Equity Action-Analysis.” BMC Public Health 23, no. 1 (May 15, 2023): 890. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15709-5 
  • Saggioro Garcia, A., and Curty, R. (2022). “Political economy of South-South relations: an analysis of BRICS’ investment protection agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Third World Quarterly 44, no. 1 (January 2, 2023): 57–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2022.2128328 
  • Saggioro Garcia, A., and Curty, R. (2022). “Economic relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean: An analysis of their investment protection agreements” Carta Internacional 17, no. 1 (2022): e1183. https://doi.org/10.21530/ci.v17n1.2022.1183
  • Neves, Márcia Angelica F.S., Nery, I., Santos Corrêa, D.,  Curty, R. and Juliana Cordeiro Silva. (2018). “A proposal of integration between teaching, extension, and research: raising environmental awareness towards the correct disposal of used kitchen oil” Revista Práxis 10, no. 20 (2018): 129-136. http://revistas.unifoa.edu.br/index.php/praxis/article/view/1404/2231

Presentations

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2025. “A Political Ecology of Wellbeing: Contextual understandings of “wellbeing” in a case study of water inequities in Rio de Janeiro.” Presented at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers. Ottawa, Canada, May 20-23, 2025.

  • Ozkardas, Sinem, Amanda Fogaça, Min Huang, and Rodrigo Curty Pereira. 2025. “From Disruption to Inclusion: Bridging Intercultural Barriers for International Students.” Presented at the 16thUniversity of Waterloo 2025 Teaching and Learning Conference Program. Waterloo, Canada, Apr 30-May 1, 2025.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2024. “’We succeed when our projects are context-specific’: documenting solutions to water, sanitation, and hygiene inequities in Brazil.” Presented at Canadian Association of Geographers’ 2024 Annual Meeting: Edges. St John’s, Canada, Aug 14-18, 2024.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2024. “The periphery of the periphery: civil society organizations navigating inequities in access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in Rio de Janeiro.” Presented at International Medical Geography Symposium: Health and Medical Geographers in a Changing World: Looking Back and Moving Forward. Atlanta, United States, July 14-19, 2024.

  • Garcia, Ana Saggioro, and Rodrigo Curty Pereira. 2023. “Political economy of South-South relations: an analysis of BRICS’ investment protection agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Presented at LASA 2023: América Latina y el Caribe: Pensar, Representar y Luchar por los Derechos, Vancouver, May 24-27, 2023.

  • Walugembe, David, Jenna Dixon, Katrina Plamondon, and Rodrigo Curty Pereira. 2022. “Mapping Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine policy: Global equity saviour or scoundrel?” Presented at the 2022 Canadian Conference on Global Health: Towards inclusive global health: research and practice priorities in uncertain times, Toronto, November 21-23, 2022.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2022. “Lessons from civil society organizations supporting vulnerable populations in Rio de Janeiro during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Presented at the International Medical Geography Symposium, Edinburgh, June 19-24, 2022.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2021. “‘Between the food and the shower’: A study of civil society response to the COVID-19 pandemic in communities with limited access to WASH in Brazil.” Presented at the Canadian Association of Geographers – Ontario Division Virtual Annual Conference 2021, London, Canada, November 12-13, 2021.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2024. “Thirst, poop, and filth: collaborative solutions to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) inequities in Brazil.” Presented at the 2024 World Water Day, Waterloo, March 22, 2024.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2023. “Embracing creativity and input from research partners: lessons learned from an Integrated Knowledge Translation approach to the WASH-health field.” Presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting and Conference of the Ontario Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers, Toronto, October 27-28, 2023.

  • Dixon, Jenna, Katrina Plamondon, Rodrigo Curty Pereira, Susan J. Elliott, Ian Graham, and Stephanie Nixon. 2022. “A systematic equity analysis tool: unpacking the place of equity in three case studies.” Presented at the International Medical Geography Symposium 2022, Edinburgh, June 19-25, 2022.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2022. “Lessons from civil society organizations supporting vulnerable populations in Rio de Janeiro during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Presented at theInternational Medical Geography Symposium 2022, Edinburgh, June 19-25, 2022.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo, and Susan J. Elliott. 2022. “Networks of solidarity: How civil society organizations worked to address health inequities in access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Presented at the American Association of Geographers 2022 Annual Meeting, New York City, February 25-March 1, 2022.

Panel discussions:

  • Shantz, Emily, Franceca Cardwell, Andrea Rishworth, Thelma Abu, and Rodrigo Curty Pereira. 2024. “Knowledge translation for equity action in health geography.” Panel discussion at the 2024 International Medical Geography Symposium, Atlanta, US, July 14-18, 2024.

  • Curty Pereira, Rodrigo. 2022. “The river with no water: Civil society initiatives to address inequities in access to water, sanitation and hygiene in Brazil.” Delivered at Water Matters: A panel discussion, Waterloo, Canada, April 1st, 2022

Awards

  • International Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS)
  • Mitacs Globalink Graduate Fellowship