About us

We are Knowmads: creative, imaginative, innovative and collaborative people who use technology to build bridges and work with anyone who promotes human dignity, anywhere and anytime to make this world a better place.

At the Knowmad Institut we strive to give voice and actions to Human Dignity and Human Rights in public and private policies.

We are People

  • We are people of different origins, experiences, generations and lands who form this team and partnerships.
  • We are the people who want to improve your lives and increase respect for your dignity and rights.
  • We want a fairer future for the generations to come and ourselves.

We are Knowledge

  • We share our knowledge and collaborate with others to improve what we generate within our collective intelligence.
  • We generate, share and collaborate to expand the scope of our studies and ideas.
  • Our actions and arguments are based on facts and science.
  • We promote research and science.
  • We want Knowledge to be at the service of people.

We are Global Citizens

  • Our goal is to improve the lives of all beings on this planet.
  • We are concerned about the current global chaos and uncertainty.
  • We are working to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
  • We work with anyone who promotes human dignity, at any time and in any place without prejudice or discrimination.
  • We want our actions to have an effect on the global stage.

We are Technology

  • We use new and emerging technologies to improve how we work.
  • We leverage on technologies to increase our impact and reach.
  • We want technology to augment our humanity.

We are Actions

  • We bring the initiatives and voices of all we represent to the United Nations and other international organizations to make a global impact.
  • We are part of the Berlin Declaration.
  • We are part of the founders group of the Rome Consensus 2.0.
  • We are observers at WIPO.
  • We are members of the Global Compact and the DGCN.
  • We are members of VNGOC and NYNGOC.
  • We want to be seen and heard by policy and decision makers, whether we agree with their positions or not.

We are NOT AFRAID OF FAILURE

  • We are constantly learning, unlearning and adopting new ideas.
  • We are only as strong as the added strength of our experts, members, allies and networks.
  • We want to change the world.

WE ARE CURRENTLY FOCUSING ON TWO AREAS:

Drug Policies:

We believe that the international model of drug control must be reformed towards one that is humanitarian and respectful of the ethnosphere.

The war on drugs has dehumanized the problem and stigmatized individuals, causing countless human rights violations, strengthening organized crime structures and degrading human dignity, especially for the most vulnerable.

Technological Sovereignty:

We believe that technology, and the stage we are at in the 4th Industrial Revolution, should enhance our humanity rather than take it away from us.

The development and regulatory frameworks for emerging technologies, such as AI, IOT and Blockchain, must include the voice of Civil Society to ensure the common good. The self-determination and freedoms of the world’s peoples will be increasingly linked to technological sovereignty, cybersecurity and the preservation of the ethnosphere.

Martin Díaz

Co-Funder & CEO

 

Theologian, priest and social researcher specialized in human rights, drug policy, and emerging technologies. He has coordinated multiple projects and conducted specialized publications in the Americas and Europe. It has extensive experience in advocacy work at the international level. (LATAM, Europe)

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Daniela Kreher

Co-Founder and Managing Director

 
 

Theologian and Social Researcher specialized in international drug policy and cannabis research. She has extensive experience in project management, interfaith relations and international networking with NGOs and FBOs. (Europe, LATAM)

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Victor Aragón

CTO

Technology Officer. Experience as an International social entrepreneur. Activist. Co- Founder in La María Guanaca; finalist TICAméricas; Abraxas Transmedia (Central America, Uruguay)

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Marilyn Reina

CCO

Creative Officer. Experience at Communication science; film experience; community communication; illustrations (Uruguay)

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Andrés M. Pérez-Acosta

Director of the JMSHRS Editorial Board

Senior Professor of Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Universidad del Rosario (Bogota, Colombia). His research program involves the basic and applied psychology of associative learning, within which he is developing the Observatory of Self-Medication Behavior. (Colombia)

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Dulce María Pallero

Editorial Board JMSHRS

 

Psychologist-psychoanalyst. Former lecturer at the University Extension Department of the School of Psychology, Universidad Nacinal de La Plata (UNLP). Co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Team of Childhood of the FaHCE, UNLP. Student of the Specialization in Education, Gender and Sexualities, FaHCE, UNLP. (Argentina)

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Rafael Lara-Martínez

Honorary Board Member of the Editorial Board

 

Salvadoran anthropologist, linguist, literary critic and writer. With a PhD in Linguistics from the Sorbonne University, his work has been recognized with the National Culture Award and the distinction of “Notable Anthropologist of El Salvador” by the Salvadoran Parliament. (France, Mexico, El Salvador)

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Armando Loizaga

Cosmovision Relations Manager

B.S. CCDCR University of Minnesota-Hazelden Foundation Certified Chemical Dependency Specialist. Has worked in the field of substance abuse treatment and prevention. President of the Intercultural Medicine Institute of Nierika A.C.

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Ricardo Langlois

Special Advisor

Lawyer and notary specializing in criminal justice and economic law. (El Salvador)

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Rodrigo Viva

CFO

Administration and Finance. Experience at IBM, UniCredit, Banque Heritage. (Italy, Uruguay)

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Luis Sarmento

European Hemp and Medical Cannabis Advisor 

 
 
 

Master of Arts in Scocial Sciences – Politics, Political Science and Government from the University of Glasgow, he has extensive experience in the industrial and medicinal hemp industry in Europe. (Portugal, UK, Germany)

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Fabian Bordel

BD

Business Developer. Experience at CPA Ferrere Business Developer, NGO Art Decó Montevideo as Community Manager (Venezuela, Uruguay)

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Claudio García

Researcher

Gloria Goulart

Researcher / Project Manager

Marcelo Montes

Growth & Strategy Advisor

David Borja

Communications Officer

Experts Committee

A growing Salvadorian sociologist with a degree from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a master’s degree from CUNY’s Graduate Center. He is currently part of the PhD program of the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University. She has worked extensively in advocacy for the human rights of marginalized communities, primarily on issues related to the workplace and community development. His current research focuses on the sociology of transnational political participation of immigrants in New York and their origin countries.

Natalia Navas

Natalia Navas

Member of Experts Committee

“I firmly believe in the Knowmad Institut’s focus to create knowledge that responds to the protection of human rights through an inter-generational and multidisciplinary approach. Not only so, but the founders focus on the inclusion of not only varying disciplines but life experience to enrich the perspectives and expertise of participants. I believe too, that the most powerful thing to affect change is to create knowledge that speaks to the truth of many people in the world and not a handful of gatekeepers that have shaped local and international policy for centuries.”

Aeronautical engineer, master in space and aeronautics from TUM – Germany – and Cranfield University – UK -, and master in human rights from UNLP – Argentina. He has long worked as a teacher and researched in applied sciences, in the field of space technology. He has extensively worked in the defense of human rights with marginalised communities, in regions where armed conflict is present and under military occupation. He is currently a member of an international accompaniment organization supporting communities and leaders in high risk based in Colombia.

Marcos Knoblauch

Marcos Knoblauch

Member of Experts Committee

“It is important that thought and action be articulated, reading the reality with social, political, economic, and technological tools that are independent and critical of the dynamics of the dominant powers.
I believe that Knowmad Institut proposal brings us closer to a vision of multidisciplinary collaboration in both thought and action, which challenges us to rethink what is established and open the space for alternatives that radically promote social justice, human rights, freedom, and dignity.”

Clinical psychologist with a doctorate in medical psychology (Dr.sc.hum.) from Heidelberg University, Germany.
Psychotherapist specialized in humanistic and transpersonal psychology and researcher of traditional medicine and sacred plants and their potential for psychotherapy. She is co-founder and director of psychotherapy and research at the Nierika A.C. Institute of Intercultural Medicine, as well as professor and postgraduate researcher in Medical and Health Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Anja Loizaga-Velder

Anja Loizaga-Velder

Member of Experts Committee

“My motivation to join the Knowmad Institut is the research of the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for psychotherapy.”

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BRAINCITIES LAB. Futuristic Thinker and Entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in IT project management, recruitment, team building, and web development, he studied Software engineering at ECE Paris and computer science at la Sorbonne. Kazé Founded EMERGENCE GROUP, a digital media company in 2006 transformed into an IT consulting company in 2011. During the last 15 years, Kazé used his creativity and resources to help companies like France Telecom, Pierre & Vacances, and Le Figaro adapt their businesses to digitization and develop web-based projects.

Kazé A. ONGUENE

Kazé A. ONGUENE

Member of Experts Committee

“Kazé is a visionary entrepreneur that decided to focus on a social and engineering Challenge: Using AI, robots, and Blockchain to design the city of the future and a sustainable society. Knowmad Institut’s vision is to contribute to this goal and promotes the adoption of Blockchain. “

Master of Science on Public Mental Health from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (2020), he is also a Social Anthropologist from the National School of Anthropology and History (2012).
He currently develops qualitative research in mental health, specifically working directly with people who use psychoactive substances, both in controlled clinical settings, groups and associations of mutual aid, as well as in recreational contexts where there is substance consumption.

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Oscar Hugo Espin García

Member of Experts Committee

“I am joining the Knowmad Institut team to develop trans-disciplinary research that will influence the construction of community strategies in the promotion of mental health and substance abuse through a comprehensive and broad-spectrum approach that incorporates the human rights perspective in global health.”

 

One Young World Ambassador and Co-Founder of the Ibero-American Leadership Network for Development (RELID). Degree in Philosophy with studies in Humanities and Liberal Arts, Diploma in Citizen Security from the Alberto Hurtado University, and Diploma in Political Communication from the University of Montevideo. As Public Safety Advisor to the Ministry of the Interior in the Government of Chile, during the administration of President Michelle Bachelet, he managed the participation of Caritas Santiago in the implementation of public policies on crime prevention. He has experience in religious organizations as Executive Secretary in the Episcopal Conference of Chile. He has extensive expertise in human and religious formation of young people in vulnerable sectors and in volunteer organizations, as a former member of the Religious Order of the Society of Jesus. He has been a scholar of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and member of networks of young politicians, such as Somos LA-KAS and the Humanist Network for Latin America.
He lives in Hamburg where he is finishing his Master of Science in Politics, Economics & Philosophy at the University of Hamburg.

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David Bruna Ortiz

Member of Experts Committee

“I am passionate about collective projects and the search for equity and justice. I am convinced that the solutions to today’s social problems have to be made with a human perspective and oriented to the defense of the dignity of every person. The Knowmad Institute, from abroad, interdisciplinary and diverse perspective, is a space to contribute to the development of a drug policy with a human approach, based on social justice and with long-term objectives, as is its commitment to the promotion of the Rome Consensus 2.0. Being part of this project gives me hope in generating real structures for the implementation of these policies.”

Medical Surgeon from the University of Chile. Doctor in Medical Humanities and Socio-Sanitary Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. Master in Public Health from the University of Chile and MBA from the Universidad Andrés Bello. Expert in drug policy and cannabis medicine. President of the NGO Latinoamérica Reforma. Former Director of the Alejandro del Río Public Assistance Hospital.

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Sergio Sánchez Bustos

Member of Experts Committee

“The European Institute for Multidisciplinary Studies in Human Rights and Science is a vehicle that allows us to provide evidence on drugs and their legislation, their uses and effects that allows the legislator to improve the laws that currently command the social order in relation to them. In this way we can have an influence on better practices for those who produce, trade and consume them, avoiding the disproportion between punishment and misdemeanor.”

Master of Law (LL.M.), International Human Rights Law, Described as a mover and shaker; has launched social campaigns and founded several tech startups. With a passion for systems reform, Graham strives to remove inefficient bureaucratic layers from the fabric of society and increase transparency around governance issues through disintermediation.

Graham De Barra

Graham De Barra

Member of Experts Committee

“My interest in the Knowmad Institut is focuses on bringing privacy and decentralisation to the masses as a tool for promoting self determination and independent free thought.”

Ethics Committee

Medical Doctor from the School of Medicine from the University of the Republic of Uruguay, specialized in Drugs and Endocanabinology. She is the founder and current president of the Uruguayan Society of Endocanabinology (SUEN). She is a researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of the Republic in Uruguay working on regulatory models for medicinal cannabis, is a member of the International Cannabinoids Research Society, and in 2017 she became a member of the Council at the International Cannabinoid Association as a Medications (IACM).

Raquel Peyraube

Raquel Peyraube

Member of the Ethics Committee

“Policies and actions that flagrantly violate ethical standards of public health and human rights are often validated and legitimized uncritically. But they have also been inspirational in finding new ways and challenging the changes needed to guide new actions from a humanitarian ethics perspective. I believe that the changes needed to protect and repair the ethnosphere must come from a critical review of the interventions in the light of the ethical aspects involved. I believe that the mission of the Knowmad Institut is in line with my concerns and therefore offers the possibility of generating contributions that reorient the work from a profound respect for Human and Civil Rights.”

Lawyer from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Diploma in Drug Policy at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE), Mexico. Former Fellow at the Executive Course on Drug Policy, Diplomacy and Global Public Health, Graduate Institute Geneve, Switzerland. Former Fellow of the Global Drug Policy Program, United Kingdom, President of RESET – Drug Policy and Human Rights. Writer of bills in Argentina to reform the Drug Law No. 23,737. Writer of General Recommendation No. 3 of the National Institute against Discrimination (INADI) on “Discrimination against users of Prohibited Drugs”. The writer of the “Declaration of Argentine Magistrates for a Drug Policy respectful of Human Rights”. Teaching experience in several faculties of the country.

Mariano Fusero

Mariano Fusero

Member of the Ethics Committee

“In the turbulent world in which we live, the defence of human dignity is becoming more and more important and the Knowmad Institute is proposing an innovative way of approaching current issues through intergenerational collaboration and multidisciplinary research. That is why I believe it is essential to contribute a Latin American vision to the multidisciplinary debate on access to and recognition of human rights at the global level.”

Researcher in the Department of Research and Educational Development of the Institute of Research and Professional Training of Universidad Don Bosco, El Salvador. Psychologist, with a master’s degree in mental health, a postgraduate degree in psycho-oncology, and doctoral candidate in social sciences at Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas and Universidad Don Bosco. He has specialized, researched, and writes about the processes of social construction in chronic diseases, mourning, death, and mortuary behaviors. He writes from the Social Sciences about chronic, degenerative, and slowly progressing diseases, mourning and mortuary behaviors. Member of the International Scientific Committee of the Observatory of Self-Medication Behavior of the Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia. He has presented at national and international congresses through the American Association of Medical Anthropology, the Association of Psychological Anthropology of the United Kingdom, and the Latin American Congress of Anthropology. He is a member of divisions 28 and 52 of the American Psychological Association, Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse and International Psychology.

 
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Jorge Molina

Member of the Ethics Committee

The greatest interest in participating in the Ethics Committee is due to the important need to rethink our behavior, prejudices, attitudes, and above all, mental and social representations. To reflect on what we consider “good or bad”, from a critical and independent position.

Professor at the Universidad Central del Ecuador and founder of the Drug Policy program at the Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales. As Advisor and Regional Public Defender (2012-2016) he promoted strategic litigation against the criminalization of drug users, as well as the release of more than five thousand people deprived of liberty detained in the name of the war on drugs. He was Advisor to the Justice Commission of the National Assembly (2011) and Analyst and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice (2008-2010), where he participated in the design of reforms to drug laws within the new Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code, in addition to the development of more humane prison policies. Since 2008 he has been involved in teaching at various Latin American universities. Author of research, monographs and articles on Criminal Law and Criminology with emphasis on drug policy, legislation and criminal justice. He is a lawyer from the University of Guayaquil, Master in Constitutional Law from the Andean University “Simon Bolivar”, Master in Political Science from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences and PhD Candidate in Criminal Law from the University of Bremen.

Jorge Paladines Comite de Etica

Jorge Vicente Paladines

Member of the Ethics Committee

“Knowmad Institut proposes a new challenge. It is not only the assumption of another multidisciplinary perspective, but a dispute for knowledge. It has been over-diagnosed that international drug policy has practical contradictions with human rights; meanwhile, the same formulas, concepts and norms persist in the establishment of diplomatic discourse, where knowledge is stale in the tradition of any Viennese café. Therefore, if the irruption of new approaches is desirable, the emergence of other knowledge will always be necessary.”

European Commission and One Young World Peace Ambassador, with a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution, Peace and Development from the United Nations Mandated-University for Peace, and a Diplomacy and International Relations Degree from American University (UAM) Nicaragua. He was consultant and analyst to the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), and holds a strong academic career as Titular Professor of International Relations and Conflict Resolution at the School of Law and International Relations of American University (UAM) in Nicaragua, among other academic projects. Author of several studies related to the state of democracy in Nicaragua, and the fraudulent general elections in 2021. He has been cofounder and Program Coordinator for several social initiatives related to Democracy, Peace and Conflict, and Electoral Analysis. Recently, he was appointed as Head of Mission of the Urnas Abiertas/CECADE Electoral Observation Mission for the 2022 Costa Rica general elections. Is an LGBT+ activist.

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Pedro Salvador Fonseca

Member of the Ethics Committee

“It is a great honor to be part of a project that prioritizes not only the production and dissemination of knowledge, but also action and commitment to human rights and human dignity. The challenges of today’s world require participatory and inclusive leadership, capable of imagining a better world and working hard for it.”

Global Humanitarian Worker with extensive experience in countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Timor Leste, Switzerland, Haiti, Panama, Moldova, Canada, Iraq, Jordan, among others. He believes that being a DOER is the most important thing in life.

Throughout his career, he has advocated for the importance of working with communities, fostering shared learning, and giving them a voice.

His educational background includes studies in Business Administration, International Development and Sustainability, Fundraising, and Education.

Since 2005, he has been a member of the Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy, serving as their Special Representative from 2005 to 2009.

Knowmad Profile Oscar

Óscar Alfonso Zuluaga Abdala

Member of the Ethics Committee

The Knowmad Institut provides an opportunity to learn and grow together, building a better world with ethics and profound respect for all people.

Furthermore, supporting the Rome Consensus strengthens the role of civil society as advisors in drug policy planning and initiatives to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable sectors of society.

It is a unique opportunity to establish a new commitment to a drug policy based on reason and compassion, free from ideology, force, stigmatization, and discrimination.

Political scientist and internationalist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He has specialized in drug policies, International drug control model, risk and harm reduction, substance analysis, cannabis and poppy policies, as well as human rights. He has produced many specialized publications and is a founding member of the Mexican Association of Cannabis Studies, since 2004. From 2008 to 2014 he was President and Executive Director of CuPIHD AC.

Jorge Hernández Tinajero

Jorge Hernández Tinajero

Member of the Ethics Committee

My interest in participating in the Committee resides in keeping myself updated and active on issues related to drugs, from a perspective of human rights, risk and harm reduction, and personal freedom and autonomy.