Luciana is a Research & Policy Officer at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention and the Accelerate Research Hub. Her research and policy work centre on gender-transformative interventions, the role of social protection in improving adolescent health and well-being, and the impact of climate change on children and adolescents. She works closely with policy partners, governments, and international NGOs to promote evidence-based policies and programmes that support adolescents and young people across sub-Saharan Africa.
Luciana has collaborated extensively with UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa to generate evidence and develop guidance aimed at promoting positive social and gender norms for improved sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Her contributions also include work with the UN Girls’ Education Initiative on gender-transformative education, and with organisations including the World Bank and Girls Not Brides on initiatives to prevent child marriage and promote adolescent wellbeing. She engages with the Social Protection Interagency Cooperation Board - Gender Working Group (SPIAC-B GWG) to advance gender-responsive social protection programming. In 2024, Luciana received an Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) Seed Fund to share and produce new policy-relevant evidence on effective social norms approaches in educational contexts.
Before joining DSPI, Luciana worked at the Center for Global Development researching the impact of climate events on education in South Asia, and the World Bank's Africa Gender Innovation Lab, where she contributed to projects on women’s access to finance in sub-Saharan Africa. At the World Bank, she participated in projects related to agricultural productivity and child anthropometrics at the Development Data Group, and the resilience of social protection and care systems for the Human Development Unit. She holds an Msc in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Politics from New York University.
Luciana can be followed on LinkedIn.
