Valeria Ariza Gómez is a political scientist with a double degree in International Relations. She completed a Master's in Territorial Government and Public Management at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, and a Master of Science in Politics and Technology at TUM.
She is a Doctoral Researcher in the Emmy Noether Junior Research Group, her research focuses on the differences in minoritized groups representation in mass media.
Before joining TUM, Valeria worked in the departmental government, gaining experience in policy formulation, evaluation, and project management. Her focus was on groups requiring special protection under the Colombian constitution, such as children, adolescents, people with disabilities, and those in extreme poverty. Her main projects included the Departmental Public Policy for the Human Right to Food, developed alongside the FAO; Municipal Public Policies for the Disabled Population; and the “Friendly Territories for Childhood” strategy, implemented with UNICEF. She led the Departmental Table for the Political Participation and Representation of Boys, Girls, and Adolescents, also an UNICEF-backed initiative.
She is passionate about the inclusion and representation of minoritized groups in both political and non-political spaces, particularly in relation to media. These are approached as building blocks of societal dynamics and political culture. Her first master’s thesis analyzed the political participation of children and adolescents in the department of Atlántico between 2015 and 2021, systematizing their experiences within local governance. Her second master’s thesis examined political communication at the local level, focusing on the coverage of the Mayor’s office in Barranquilla’s main newspaper during election year 2023.
- Minority representation
- Political communication
- Inclusive governance strategies
- Mixed methods