luciana duarte
Trailblazing Researcher
Awarded Best PhD Colleague from Erasmus with a promising career to put people first
I live in The Hague, The Netherlands, where I work as a PhD researcher in Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, and as a lecturer in Industrial Design Engineering at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. My double degree PhD is also in Production Engineering at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Brazil. My thesis is called “The fabric of the forest: scaling up the Amazonian native rubber social technologies in fashion value chains”.
One of my side projects, “Transmedia Sustainable Fashion made in Brazil – Documenting the roundtable at COP27 UN Climate Change Conference 2022 and exploring creative strategies to communicate scientific research”, received a grant from the Civic Innovation research group from ISS/EUR.
I am also part of Political Ecology research group at the same institution, which supported my participation in some international events to make science popular. In 2022, a social project that I run in Brazil for the homeless was selected by the Netherlands National Programme Open Science.
Since 2019, I have been taking some positions to represent circa 150 PhDs colleagues, such PhD Council Coordinator at ISS PhD Study Association (IPSA) from 2021 to 2022, and 2024.
I am humbled to have received the Award of Best PhD Colleague 2021 among 600 PhDs from Erasmus University Rotterdam. My colleagues acknowledge my efforts for everyone to have teaching opportunities, even though I did not need it, and we had other priorities.
inspiring lecturer
A Journey in Sustainable Fashion Ānd Design Education
My master’s degree in Production Engineering (2011-2013) is focused on Textile Engineering, a Comparative study of the environmental impact of conventional CO/PET jeans and recycled jeans. Together with the master, started my fruitful career as a lecturer. When I was 24 years old, I created the minor “Fashion and Sustainability” in the Fashion Design bachelor degree at UFMG, as a counterpart of my masters’ scholarship. In addition, I taught “Basic Drawing and Fashion Illustration”.
From 2013 to 2019, I taught some courses in the bachelor degree in Production Engineering at Kennedy Faculty: “Planning and Product Design”, “Product Development Process”, “Ergonomics, Health and Safety at Work”, “3D Modelling”, “Sustainability Management in Production Engineering”, and “Factory Project and Industrial Installations”.
In parallel, I was a lecturer at the technical course of Computer Graphics, at Pitágoras College, where I taught “Modeling Techniques” and “Illustration and Print Production”. I have supervised several course completion assignments and undergraduate research. In 2018, I was honored lecturer in the Production Engineering course, and my students received the best research award from all the courses and colleges of a private group.
Since 2021, I have been teaching “Sketching”, “Design Methodology”, and “Design Agency” in Industrial Design Engineering bachelor course at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. In 2022, I taught “Design for Social Innovation” in the Master in Innovation for Sustainable Development at the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO – UN). In parallel, I have been giving lecturers, workshops, and talks at many universities mostly in Brazil, and The Netherlands.
INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER
OPTMISTIC THAT WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD WITH DESIGN
My career as an international speaker started in 2012, when I was invited to talk for hundreds of young entrepreneurs at the Junior Enterprise World Conference, in the paradisiac beach Paraty, closer to Rio de Janeiro. For many years, I was a guest speaker at the Fashion Museum in Belo Horizonte and Brasil Eco Fashion Week in São Paulo.
Since these initial experiences in Brazil, I have been invited to talk at a couple of fashion events around the world, such as Gent Fair Fashion Fest (Belgium), Sustainable Fashion Week (United Kingdom), BRICS+ Fashion Summit, and Moscow Fashion Week, as well as businesses events, such as Impact Fest (The Netherlands) for a few years. Since 2021, I have been talking in the Blue Zone of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP.
Product Designer
Building a Jewelry BrĀnd from Silver Ānd Stones
She holds a bachelor's degree in Product Design from the Design School of the University of the State of Minas Gerais (2007-2010). In 2009, a sustainable fashion entrepreneur at the Ethical Fashion Show (actual Neonyt), in Paris, found her blog and called her to work for his company. For a year, she worked as a style assistant and then as a fashion designer. Her last job in the industry was in 2013, as a Jewelry Design Coordinator for a fast fashion company of semi-jewels. In 2022, she started to make her own jewelry with silver and natural gemstones.
[write about the many courses I did on jewelry, like gemstone cutting, gemology, etc]
Eco-Driven Consultant
Merging Engineering Precision with Ethical Design
Since 2012, she has provided consultancy in Engineering, Fashion Design, and Scientific Knowledge to diverse companies and institutions. Among the most relevant projects are: the development of the layout of a bag and shoe factory; reverse engineering of maternity bags; the audition of a carbon market project in the Amazon for the United States government; and sustainable fashion companies in the United Kingdom. The services provided were communicated in the previous platform Ethical Fashion Brazil, also serving to share content about ethical and sustainable fashion products and services.
Artist
Living the Samurai Ethic.
An Artist's Dual Path
She has won several cultural and literary contests since childhood. There are at least five contests of a Brazilian television company, honorable mentions of literature of the Camões Institute in Portugal, Brazilian award for the development of fashion tags, among others. She has made some artistic exhibitions, highlighting a chair with textile waste for the IV Brazilian Design Biennial, in 2012, and three paintings oil on canvas for the River City Hall, in Bangkok, in 2014, as well as solo and group exhibitions at the Artigas Gallery, in her hometown.
Her last exhibition was in 2019, an artistic installation at the Fashion Museum, in Belo Horizonte, to show the construction of the Ethical Fashion Brazil website as well as to honor her excellent team of programmers. Apart from visual arts, martial arts are a passion. After training Karate Shotokan for a few years, she has been training Katori Shinto-Ryu, but most importantly, trying to live according to the bushido, the samurai ethics.
Jury member
Evaluating Sustainable Fashion at the 2021 Awards
In 2021, she was invited to serve as a jury member for the prestigious Fashion Makes Sense Award, part of the FASHIONCLASH Festival. Alongside her were six other prominent figures in the fashion industry, including Sara Sozzani Maino, deputy director of Vogue Italia and head of Vogue Talents, and Holly Syrett, Senior Sustainability Manager at Global Fashion Agenda. Together, they evaluated sustainable designs from nine emerging designers representing major brands like Louis Vuitton and Adidas, focusing on innovation and sustainability in fashion. The award is known for promoting responsible and forward-thinking fashion practices, supported by organizations such as the Province of Limburg and the Municipality of Maastricht
Meditator
How Mindfulness Training Shapes a Better World
She is a certified mindfulness meditation trainer with the World Peace Initiative (WPI) in Thailand, where she participated in multiple retreats from 2014 to 2020 to study under Buddhist teaching monks. During these retreats, she engaged in *Dhammakaya* meditation, a central practice in the Peace Revolution project by WPI. The Peace Revolution aims to cultivate inner peace as a foundation for global peace, promoting a philosophy of "Peace In, Peace Out"—the idea that personal mindfulness and self-development can lead to broader societal harmony.
Through this project, she not only deepened her understanding of the mind but also took part in WPI's *Self-Development Programs*, which combine guided meditations, daily reflections, and personal coaching from experienced mentors known as Peace Coaches. These programs are designed to inspire participants to develop inner calm and resilience, helping them overcome personal challenges and contribute to a culture of peace worldwide.
In addition, she has participated in WPI’s *Peace Revolution Fellowship*, which offers individuals from across the globe the opportunity to attend mindfulness retreats and bring peace-building techniques to their local communities.
social activist
Living the Samurai Ethic.
An Artist's Dual Path
From 2015 to 2019, she has developed several social projects for minorities, mainly in the “favelas” (shanty towns in Brazil). She has run three editions of the Pimp My Carroça project for the renovation of carts for waste pickers and canners. Above all, the biggest personal and professional achievement was having led and executed 10 editions of the South African project The Street Store in Belo Horizonte.
It is a pop-up street store where all clothing, shoes and accessories are selected for free by the homeless. With this project, she created a network of over 300 volunteers, as well as over 1,000 registered donors, serving hundreds of homeless people with thousands of clothes. In 2015, the project received the Urban Kindness Award, in the Generosity category, by the Institute of Architects of Brazil.