Colombina Schaeffer is a sociologist from the Catholic University of Chile and received her PhD in Government and International Relations from The University of Sydney. She has worked has a researcher and academic, as well as an activists in movements and civil society organizations. Colombina has explored different types of environmental controversies, focusing on the role played by concerned citizens and groups, and in issues where questions of science and politics, and more specifically technology and democracy, cannot be held apart. Her dissertation explored the controversy surrounding the construction of a mega hydroelectric project in Chilean Patagonia, focusing on the Patagonia Without Dams campaign, the biggest environmental campaign ever organised in the country. Her research interests include political ecology, social movements, science and technology studies, and Latin American politics. She worked with the Chilean based NGO Programa Chile Sustentable and is now deputy director at Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente, an organisation that works to strengthen democracies in Latin America.