Dr Thaís de Carvalho

Professional biography

Dr. Thaís de Carvalho is a Lecturer in Sustainable Development at the School of Social Sciences and Global Studies (SSGS) at the Open University, UK. Thaís is keen to examine how social policies can be improved to sustainably address poverty in rural contexts. She is interested in social protection programmes, climate-induced migration, environmental justice, and all policy debates on childhood and the intergenerational reproduction of poverty. She has experience conducting research in diverse contexts in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Before joining the OU, Thaís held teaching positions at Birkbeck (University of London), the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the University College London (UCL). She was also a Visiting Lecturer at the School of Social Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). In addition to her academic engagements, Thaís has worked as a research consultant for the Asian Development Bank, Fundación Capital (Colombia), ODI (UK), UNICEF Peru, and the International Centre for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI - Brazil), conducting systematic reviews of social policy, designing age- and culturally-sensitive methodologies, and collecting data with various stakeholders.

Currently, Thaís contributes as a referee for the journals Climate & Development, Childhood and Children & Society. She was also a contributing author in the 2021 Amazon Assessment Report.

Research interests

Thaís leads the project Child-led Action for Indigenous Adaptation to Climate Change (CAIAC), which is supported by the Open University's 

She is also involved in the following projects

• Understanding attitudes, countering stigma and cultivating empathy to tackle poverty and inequality, led by Keetie Roelen and supported by the Open Societal Challenges.
• Overcoming colonial continuities in the area of social protection: learning form the past, led by Keetie Roelen and funded by the German Ministry of Development Cooperation (BMZ).

At the OU, she is co-leading the Poverty, Inequality and Social Protection (PISP) research hub, alongside Keetie Roelen.

Teaching interests

Thaís is involved in undergraduate teaching related to Global Development. She has worked in the production of D229 and is co-chairing module production of D329. She is also involved in the presentation of D113.

Thaís is interested in supervising PhD research students with an interest in social policy, environmental justice, childhood and youth, and Latin American and Caribbean development.

Impact and engagement

Thaís has worked as a consultant for several think tanks and non-governmental organisations, assessing the impact of social policies and programmes targeting vulnerable communities, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Some outputs include:

Theory of change and strategic framework for UNICEF’s work on children in contexts of human mobility: an approach from UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean

Children on the move in Latin America and the Caribbean: Review of evidence