Veriene Melo-Kooreman

Veriene Melo-Kooreman is a Research Consultant with the Democracy Action Lab (DAL) at the Stanford Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). With over 13 years of cross-sector experience in applied research, Veriene has led social impact studies and evaluations across countries, coordinated multi-stakeholder projects, and built research and governance frameworks to help organizations understand what works and make strategic decisions based on evidence.

Having lived and worked in Brazil, the United States, and the Netherlands, her career spans academia, big tech, international justice, and international development in multilingual, cross-functional environments. She has held several research, policy, and analysis roles in global organizations including TikTok, Oxfam, and the International Criminal Court. As a long-time research affiliate with PovGov at CDDRL (2012-2016), she worked closely with Professor Beatriz Magaloni on criminal violence and public security research projects in Brazil, conducting extensive fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro, and co-leading an impact evaluation of a youth education intervention in violence-affected settings.

Veriene holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, and a B.A. with cum laude honors in International Studies and Spanish from the University of Colorado Denver (UC Denver). She has been awarded several merit-based scholarships and fellowships throughout her academic career, including the Ayacucho Fellowship, awarded to outstanding Stanford students from Latin America, and the Lemann Fellowship, which grants support to leaders committed to social development in Brazil. Her dissertation explored the opportunities and limitations of applying Paulo Freire's emancipatory education as a tool for youth empowerment and community transformation across Brazilian favelas. She also contributed to research on adult education and lifelong learning as a graduate researcher at UCLA.

At DAL, she supports program and research commitments, working with civil society organizations in Latin America to identify and develop projects that provide strategic insights, evidence, and practices in support of democratic resilience efforts.