# 2026 Research Grants and Awards Announced *Supporting interdisciplinary research that advances scholarship on Latin America and the Caribbean.* January 28, 2026 The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2026 research grants and awards, supporting a wide range of interdisciplinary projects that advance scholarship on Latin America and the Caribbean. These awards, with a performance period from January through December 2026, fund research conferences, collaborative research initiatives, workshops, and lectures that span the humanities, social sciences, environmental studies, public policy, and biomedical research. Together, these projects reflect the Center’s commitment to fostering innovative, cross-regional, and cross-disciplinary inquiry. #### **Research Grants Awardees** ![Cecile Fromont](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/9.png?itok=gbweDCFH) **Exhibiting Art from the French- and Creole-speaking Caribbean: Sociological, Historical, Art Historical, and Museological Perspectives** *Faculty awardee:* **Cécile Fromont**, Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Department of History of Art and Architecture *Type of award:* Research Conference This two-day symposium will examine the historical and contemporary visual cultures of the French- and Creole-speaking Caribbean and Amazonia, regions that have produced globally influential thinkers yet remain underrepresented in sustained art historical and museological scholarship. Organized in conjunction with the Spring 2026 exhibition *Van Lévé: Sovereign Visions of the Creole and Maroon Americas and Amazonia* at the Alain Locke Gallery, the conference will convene scholars, thinkers, and museum professionals to explore how art from these regions has been exhibited, interpreted, and received since the seventeenth century. Through panels, roundtables, and exhibition visits, participants will engage sociological, historical, art historical, and curatorial perspectives on the past, present, and future of exhibiting Caribbean and Amazonian art. ![Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/8.png?itok=OLn_XyoJ) **New Directions in Puerto Rican History** *Faculty awardee:* **Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof**, Professor of History, Department of History *Type of award:* Research Conference This Spring 2026 seminar series will highlight emerging questions and methodologies in the history of Puerto Rico and its diaspora. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, the series will examine labor, gender, and social welfare systems under Spanish colonialism and U.S. empire, and their effects on workers and citizens. Discussions will focus on three interconnected settings—the Puerto Rican countryside, small urban centers on the island, and Puerto Rican communities in the mainland United States—offering a comparative framework for understanding continuity and change across space and time. ![Alisha Holland](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/7.png?itok=7SZ5q45m) **Radical State Reform? The Politics of Reshaping Government in Argentina** *Faculty awardee:* **Alisha Holland**, Gates Professor of Developing Societies, Department of Government *Type of award:* Collaborative Research Grant This collaborative research project investigates Argentina’s unprecedented efforts to radically reform the state under President Javier Milei. Combining quantitative data analysis, qualitative interviews, and original public opinion surveys, the project will explore the political drivers of administrative reform, the role of tech elites and visions of artificial intelligence in reshaping government labor, and the extent of popular support for reducing the size and scope of the state. By situating Argentina within broader regional and global trends, the research aims to shed light on the growing influence of libertarian-tech coalitions and contemporary debates about governance and state capacity. ![Marcos Simoes-Costa](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/6.png?itok=uHI9lfA6) **Gene Regulatory Mechanisms Driving Nociceptor Differentiation** *Faculty awardee:* **Marcos Simões-Costa**, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School *Type of award:* Collaborative Research Grant This project brings together research teams at Harvard Medical School and the University of São Paulo to study the genomic and epigenomic mechanisms governing nociceptors—specialized nerve cells responsible for sensing harmful stimuli such as heat, pressure, and chemical irritants. By integrating developmental genomics, in vivo functional assays, and protein signaling research, the collaboration seeks to advance fundamental knowledge of pain biology and the origins of congenital pain disorders. The project also includes a robust training component, with graduate student exchanges and the development of a short course on genomic approaches to nociceptor biology in Brazil. ![Doris Sommer](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/5.png?itok=VzUxFPse) **Psychedelics in the Americas: Art, Health, and Law** *Faculty awardee:* **Doris Sommer,** Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies; Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Roman Languages & Literature *Type of award:* Research Conference As psychedelics regain prominence in mental health research, this conference will examine their medical, ethical, legal, and artistic dimensions through a hemispheric lens. Centering Latin America—where Indigenous knowledge has long shaped the use of these substances—the project will connect Harvard scholarship with Latin American intellectual and artistic production. The conference aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue among students and faculty across literature, medicine, history, and the performing arts, while amplifying Indigenous perspectives and ethical considerations in contemporary debates on psychedelics and health. ![Gabriela Soto Laveaga](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/4.png?itok=GLVzYAuy) **Water Futures in a Drought Zone: Drought in Sonora’s Yaqui Valley and Algae Growth in the Sea of Cortés** *Faculty awardee:* **Gabriela Soto Laveaga,** Professor of the History of Science, Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University, Department of the History of Science *Type of award:* Research Conference This event will address the intertwined environmental crises affecting Sonora’s Yaqui Valley and the Sea of Cortés, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “World’s Aquarium.” Bringing together regional experts, the roundtable discussion will examine how prolonged drought, agricultural practices, and decades of chemical fertilizer use have reshaped both land and sea, with far-reaching consequences for ecosystems, public health, and global food systems. By linking agriculture and marine environments in a single conversation, the discussion aims to reframe how ecological disasters are understood and addressed in Mexico and beyond. #### **Off-Cycle Grants Awardee** ![Natalia Garbiras Diaz](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/3.png?itok=ZStLYUfQ) **Pre-APSA Workshop for Advanced Graduate Students and Postdocs Studying Latin America** *Faculty awardee:* **Natalia Garbiras-Diaz**, Assistant Professor in the Business, Government and the International Economy Unit, Harvard Business School *Type of award:* Research Workshop Held in conjunction with the 122nd Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, this full-day workshop will support advanced graduate students and postdoctoral scholars working on Latin America-focused research and preparing for the academic job market. The workshop will feature job-market paper presentations and feedback sessions across subfields including comparative politics, political economy, public policy, and international relations. The event is co-organized with scholars from the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, and Lafayette College. #### **Parry Lecture Fund Awardees** ![De la Fuente and Alberto](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-01/Untitled%20design%20%281%29.png?itok=vVFqwUDL) **Exemplarity and Social Mobility in the African Diaspora in Seventeenth-Century Peru** *Faculty awardees:* **Alejandro de la Fuente,** Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics; Professor of African and African American Studies and of History; Director, Afro-Latin American Research Institute, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, Department of African and African American Studies and **Paulina Alberto,** Professor of African and African American Studies and of History; Director of Graduate Studies, Department of African and African American Studies *Type of award:* Lecture This lecture will feature literary scholar Larissa Brewer-Garcia, whose work explores subaltern narratives and racial meaning in colonial Latin America. Drawing from her forthcoming book project on race, hierarchy, and belonging in Andean religious portraiture, the lecture will examine representations of Black and Indigenous figures in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century visual and textual culture. The event will complement the yearlong seminar “Race and Ethnicity in Latin America,” taught by Alberto and de la Fuente. Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)