Viviana Fernandez is the Associate Director at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa (uOttawa). Her role entails the overall management of human, financial, budgetary, physical and material resources of the Centre, maintaining a suitable and dynamic research environment for its members and partners, as well as the implementation of the Centre’ strategic plan, its communication and fundraising strategies.
Viviana is currently a member of the Executive Board of the Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI) and sits in the Management Committee of the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on the Rights of the Child (uOttawa) since 2014 and the Committee for the Joint Chair in Women’s Studies, Carleton University and uOttawa since 2019. In addition, Viviana was elected to the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Canada Steering Committee from 2016 until 2022 (Chair in 2020-2022). She has been a member of SAR’s International Advisory Committee representing Canada since 2016 and starting in summer 2022, representing the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), which is a joint project with Universidad de Monterrey (Mexico) and the SAR Network. Viviana also led the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign for Canada as a board member of Women in International Security Canada from 2015 until 2018.
Prior to taking up her position at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, Viviana joined uOttawa in 2004 as the Head of the Research Office at the Telfer School of Management. Due to work and/or studies, she has lived in Chile, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.