Juan Silva comes to the MESM program as a LAFF fellow with the prestigious CONICYT scholarship from the Chilean government. He holds a Bachelor Degree in sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and graduate diploma in international studies from University of Chile. With over 4 years of professional experience working on environmental issues as a consultant, he then assumed a research role with the Chilean NGO Costa Humboldt, where he focused on interdisciplinary projects with indigenous communities for coastal and marine conservation in Southern Chile. Juan has also collaborated on projects focused on marine conservation networks for Punta de Lobos Foundation and river conservation for the Geute Conservación Sur Foundation. 

Juan’s interests at the interface of aquaculture and social well-being, particularly with seaweeds, alongside expertise from the field of sociology contribute unique insight to his pursuit of the Coastal Marine Resources Specialization at Bren, as well as the LAFF Network. His career vision is to contribute tothe development of scalable community-based models for a more sustainable, efficient, and equitable management of coastal marine resources through fostering trust, vertical and horizontal collaboration, and integrated local and scientific knowledge.