Dr Belén Villegas Plá

Dr Villegas Plá has long blonde hair. She is wearing a black top and blazer, looking upwards slightly at the camera and smiling.
Departmental Lecturer in the Political Economy of Latin America

I am a political economist with a primary research focus on inequality and development, social protection, and the care economy.

After completing her BA and MA studies at the Universidad de la República in Uruguay and the Universität de Barcelona in Spain, I completed my PhD in Politics and International Relations at the University of York, UK, with a thesis on ‘The political economy of tax and labour policies in Chile and Uruguay in 2000-2020’ I have developed two main lines of research. The first examines the political economy of distributive policies in Latin America, with recent publications in Competition & Change, Review of International Political Economy, Finance and Space, Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Política, and Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales. The second explores social reproduction and the care economy, with articles published in Development and Change, Global Social Policy, The International Journal of Care and Caring, Third World Quarterly, and New Political Economy, among others. I have also published in numerous prestigious Spanish-language publishers, including Siglo XXI Editores and CLACSO, as well as in reports from UN agencies and other global institutions.

I have served as an international consultant for ECLAC (UN), conducting research and supporting care policies in Latin America. I have also contributed to research and reports for institutions like UN Women, ODI, FCDO (UK), Universidad de la República, Sorbonne University, and King’s College London, and received scholarships and grants from the Carolina Foundation, Uruguay’s National Agency for Innovation, CLACSO, the Uruguayan Ministry of Social Development, amongst others.