Dr Claudia Baez Camargo is Director of Prevention, Research and Innovation at the Basel Institute on Governance.

Claudia's work brings together academic research and technical assistance with the goal of promoting anti-corruption and good governance approaches that are context sensitive and address the relevant root causes of weak rule adherence and enforcement. Her primary interest is in articulating approaches that respond to the needs and expectations of the intended audiences and beneficiaries, with a strong emphasis on co-design and local ownership. Among other areas, she has conducted extensive research on how behavioural factors, such as those associated with social norms and mental models, can impact governance and anti-corruption outcomes in spite of the existence of good legal and regulatory frameworks. Consequently, in her work Claudia has developed ample experience in developing interventions to help close the implementation gap that is often observed when robust laws are adopted but the corresponding behaviour change is lagging.

At the Basel Institute on Governance, Claudia is responsible for the development, oversight and management of the Institute’s research activities in the areas of public and global governance. Claudia also works with a broad range of interested stakeholders on technical projects aimed at developing context-sensitive strategies to prevent corruption and enhance good governance in the public sector.

Claudia holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, USA and a graduate degree in economics from the University of Cambridge, England. Originally from Mexico, she initiated her professional career working with the Ministry for Social Development, Federal Government of Mexico. There, Claudia was involved in developing demand-driven poverty reduction programmes aimed at ensuring access to basic public services for low-income rural communities.

Before joining the Basel Institute in 2009, Claudia was Assistant Professor of Political Science at William Paterson University, New Jersey, where she taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in comparative politics, Latin American history and research methods. To date, she continues to teach courses on corruption and development, health systems governance and has developed a special curriculum on research methods focusing on corruption studies.