Lehrbeauftragte
Talia Vela-Eiden is Lecturer in the Master of Empowerment Studies (MES) at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, having joined the Hochschule Düsseldorf in March 2009. Previously, she taught at the joint Double Degree Master in Development of the Hochschule Düsseldorf and the University of Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana, and at the Bachelor and Diplom levels. She also supervises MA theses at the Faculty.
Talia centres her teaching and practice in international development, power and empowerment, participatory approaches, human rights-based approach to development, community development, and praxis in development cooperation (methods and approaches). She has conducted fieldwork across three continents, including Peru, Ecuador, the Netherlands, Germany, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Talia is author of articles published in academic and non-academic publications on topics related to her fields of work.
In 2024, she joined The European Journal of Development Research (EJDR) as Managing Editor. One of the top journals in the field of global development, EJDR pursues a multidisciplinary approach with a critical embrace of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, encouraging voices from the Global South.
Previously, she studied law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and is a qualified barrister and solicitor in Perú. In 1997, she won a Scholarship of the Netherlands Fellowship Program for pursuing a MA in Politics of Alternative Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), now part of Erasmus University Rotterdam. In 2005, Talia completed her doctoral dissertation in political science (Dr.phil.) at the Centre for Development Research (ZEF-Bonn) of the University of Bonn with a GTZ/BMZ grant for her fieldwork.
