Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios

I am a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and will defend my dissertation in December 2025. Since September 2026, I have also been a lecturer at Leiden University. 

My research agenda focuses on explaining citizens’ political participation in war-torn democracies through theoretical frameworks involving state capacity and institutional reforms. 

To carry out this research, I designed and executed a mixed-methods study, conducting interviews and field observations in conflict-affected regions in Colombia (Montes de María and Catatumbo) and running inferential statistical analyses using panel survey data from the adult population in these regions. 

I have worked as a research manager in academia (Universidad de los Andes, 2016-2018 and 2023-2025) and private sector (Ipsos, 2018-2021), as well as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program (2021 and 2023-2024).

I have also taught as a lecturer at Universidad de los Andes (2017–2019) and Universidad Javeriana (2019), and as a teaching assistant at the University of Amsterdam (2022) and Universidad del Rosario (2015–2016). 

You can access my publications here. You can also download my Curriculum Vitae, and visit my Linkedin and ORCID profiles.