Alejandra Zuluaga is a PhD candidate at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, and a member of the GLaD program.

Her PhD draws on feminist theory and ontopolitically oriented research to examine the social imaginaries of human rights within the context of Colombian drug policy.

Alejandra has a background in political science and development studies. Her research has focused on the linkages between issues of security and development, advocating for special emphasis on the need to examine these issues in their mutual interaction rather than as separate areas of policymaking. Her work in this area has been published in the journal Conflict, Security and Development.

Previously, Alejandra was a Research Fellow at the RMIT Health Transformation Lab, where her research focused on the social implications of artificial intelligence and cybernetics in the health and welfare system. In particular, this work examined the social aspects and effects of these technologies, such as the impact of automation bias on cultural minorities. Her research exposed the need for more transparency and ethical use of AI by developing in-depth analyses of emerging technologies and citizen-led solutions.

In addition to her academic work, Alejandra has experience in the public and private sector, having worked on a number of projects, including an examination of social imaginaries of drugs at Universidad EAFIT University in Medellín, Colombia, and a socio-political analysis of drugs in rural areas of Antioquia, Colombia with the Security Department of the Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), the leading public utility service company in South America.

In the Gender, Law and Drugs (GLaD) program, Alejandra is currently working on an ARC-funded project exploring the relationship between drug policy, human rights, and sex/gender.