Call for an MSc student in Environmental Studies
A controversial highway across the TIPNIS National Park:
The political ecology of an environmental conflict
Requisite: Student of the Master in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability (MEISAES, ICTA-UAB) or the Joint European Master in Environmental Studies: Cities and Sustainability (JEMES CiSu).
Description: The Bolivian Government has recently given the green light for the construction of a deeply-contested highway across the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), an area hosting exceptional levels of biological diversity and home to three indigenous groups (Science 523, 158; 2015). While the Bolivian government claims to have conducted a consultation process with the potentially affected communities, the plebiscite was marred by criticism, flaws and inconsistencies. As such, the planned construction of the TIPNIS highway continues to be one of the current major environmental conflicts in Bolivian Amazonia, with several indigenous organizations voicing their opposition to the government’s lack of commitment with its international conservation pledges (Nature Clim Change 1, 434; 2011).
Objectives: The proposed Master thesis will combine insights from political ecology and biocultural conservation to analyze the development of the conflict. The student will collect background literature to analyze the role of different stakeholders in the conflict, and will analyze a database with primary data on perceptions of the local peoples towards the planned highway. The analysis of these data will constitute the core of her/his Master thesis.
Technical details: The thesis will be co-directed by Victoria Reyes-García (ICREA-ICTA) and Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares (University of Helsinki, Finland). A revised version of the MSc Thesis will be submitted to the ICR journal ‘Journal for Nature Conservation’ (Elsevier).
Opportunities: The MSc student will be part of a research team working on interdisciplinary social-ecological research at ICTA-UAB, benefitting from direct interactions with a number of highly-qualified international researchers ( As part of the research team, the candidate should be willing to participate in regular academic activities. Moreover, if you are interested in pursuing a PhD in affiliation with us, we commit to support you in your application to the relevant graduate school program and in different funding calls.
If you are interested on writing your MSc thesis on this topic, please contact: and
Deadline: 1st December 2015
