Gabriela Estefanía Riera Robles is a political economist and researcher whose work lies at the intersection of political economy, territorial governance, and the social reproduction of life. Her research engages critically with the dynamics of state power, inequality, and development, with a particular focus on how institutional arrangements and political-economic structures shape territorial configurations and everyday survival strategies in contexts marked by crisis and structural vulnerability.

She holds a background in law and political science and was awarded a CONACYT Excellence Scholarship (Mexico) to pursue her Master’s degree. Her professional and research experience includes contributions to territorial planning instruments, public policy design, and applied research with governmental and non-governmental organizations in Ecuador, particularly in areas related to inequality, violence, and social vulnerability.

Currently, she is a doctoral researcher at ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, supported by an ESPP Excellence Scholarship, where she develops a comparative political economy approach to the analysis of care, crisis, and collective responses, drawing on critical, feminist, and decolonial perspectives. Methodologically, she combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, with a growing emphasis on empirical analysis and causal inference techniques. Her work aims to contribute to academically rigorous and policy-relevant debates on the organization of social life and the role of institutions in sustaining or challenging structural inequalities.