Yesica Rodríguez Blásquez

Yesica Rodríguez is a Research Associate in the Water Group at SEI Latin America. She is a critical, creative, and empathetic researcher who believes in a situated and sentipensante way of doing research—one that recognizes that knowledge is co-created through relationships, emotions, and collective experiences.

Her work focuses on understanding and transforming the relationships between knowledge, power, and territory in water governance across Latin America. She is particularly interested in how scientific and community-based knowledge systems can interact to shape more just, inclusive, and transformative forms of water governance. Coming from a technical background in water resources engineering, Yesica’s trajectory has evolved toward integrating social sciences, critical theory, and participatory approaches into water governance research. This transition reflects her commitment to bridging analytical tools with intercultural dialogue and decolonial perspectives to foster epistemic and socio-environmental justice.

At SEI, Yesica contributes to projects that integrate technical and social dimensions of water governance, including Mining and Responsible Sustainability in Latin America (MARS), where she leads the water governance component; Rights of Rivers in Practice, a comparative study on legal personhood and governance of rivers in Colombia, New Zealand, and Bangladesh where she leads the Colombian case of study; and regional initiatives on Andean water management, combining hydrological modeling with participation approaches.

Her research interests include water and epistemic justice, decolonial and participatory research, rights of nature, and plural knowledge systems. She is also exploring creative and art-based methods to co-create knowledge in more reflective and equitable ways.

Before joining SEI, Yesica worked as a research assistant and lecturer at the Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito and later as a professor at the Catholic University of Colombia.

She holds a BSc in Civil Engineering and an MSc in Hydraulic Resources and Environment from the Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito. Over the past years, she has also strengthened her capacities through continuous education in Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPR), intercultural methodologies for community engagement, and digital information design and infographics, broadening her interdisciplinary approach to research and communication.