Rodrigo Acuna

Biography

"Rodrigo Acuña is an Associate Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies. In 2013 he completed a PhD on Venezuelan foreign policy after having been awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) by the Federal Government. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Politics and International Relations and Spanish/Latin American Studies from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, as well as a Diploma in Education from that same institution. In 2005 he was awarded the Benchmark Prize in Hispanic Studies by UNSW and was a runner-up for the literary competition Open Prose in the Unsweetened 2007 Literary Journal for his first fictional story 'The General's Dreams'. In 2009 he was part of the teaching team of Associate Professor Estela Valverde in Spanish and Latin American Studies that won the 2009 Learning and Teaching Award from the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University. With an interest in Latin American films Rodrigo has been a member of several discussion panels at the Sydney Latin American Film Festival. Engaging regularly in academic and community activities, he has presented research papers at various Australian universities and spoken at events held at the Latin American Social Forum in Australia, Movies at Macquarie and the New South Wales Parliament Theatre among others. "

Research Interest

Rodrigo's research interests include Inter-American relations, Cold War and Post-Cold War Latin America, Venezuelan history and politics, human rights and development policies from a multidisciplinary perspective. Rodrigo runs his own blog at http://rodrigoacuna.com/ on Latin American politics and his opinion is often sought by the Australian media on developments in the region.