MA (Manuel) Mindreau Montero

Biography

Manuel (‘Manu’) read economics at Universidad del Pacifico (Lima, Peru) and holds a MA in international relations from University of Miami (Florida, USA). He also earned a MA in Contemporary Art from the University of Manchester (UK) / Sotheby’s Institute of Art (London).

As an academic and researcher, Manuel has a particular interest in the fields of international political economy (IPE), green industrial policy, global value chains, the energy transition, and regionalism with a focus on Latin America. He has previously lived in France, the USA, Australia, and the UK, accumulating 15 years of working experience in the private and public sectors, including the UK Department for Business, Environment, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), the Andean Community Secretariat, Citibank, Sotheby’s and Artnet. As a practitioner he has experience in providing evidence-based advice for policy development and strategic decision-making, negotiating partnerships and managing relationships with stakeholders, implementing institutional improvement, and creating opportunities for business development. Passionate about education as a driver for change in society, he has a proven track-record as lecturer and as facilitator for international engagement and institutional liaison in higher education.

Manuel is currently working towards his PhD at ISS within the Governance, Law and Social Justice (GLSJ) research group, and receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) through the project “Green Industrial Policy in the Age of Rare Metals: A Transregional Comparison of Growth Strategies in Rare Earth Mining (GRIP-ARM).” His PhD research on ‘Industrial Policy, Economic Upgrading, Green Growth, and Knowledge Regimes: The Case of Brazil and Rare Earths’ investigates the materialist-ideational forces facilitating/constraining ‘strategic coupling’ and state agency regarding the implementation of (sectoral) industrial policies for economic upgrading in connection with rare earths mining and processing, technological innovation and renewable energy in Brazil.