2026 Duke Sanford Graduates: Marcelo S. O. Gonçalves PhD’26

Over 15 years in the Brazilian federal government, he worked across food and nutrition security, policy evaluation, and climate adaptation. He served in senior roles, including Executive Secretary of Brazil’s National Council for Food and Nutrition Security and Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Human Rights.

Those years gave him a close view of how government operates at scale. They also left him with a question that would eventually shape his academic path.

In Brasília, Gonçalves saw how policies take shape across agencies, levels of government, and competing priorities. Decisions reflected technical design, but also political incentives, institutional constraints, and local capacity.

“Working in the Brazilian federal government gave me a first-hand view of how policy actually operates on the ground,” he said. “In a large and complex organization, you see that policy is not just a technical design. It is the product of interactions among multiple actors, institutions, and interests, constantly competing for both material and symbolic resources.”

He noticed that similar communities, encountering similar challenges, could experience very different outcomes under the same policy. That gap between design and reality stayed with him.

“That experience pushed me to move beyond asking whether policies work, to understanding why or when they work,” he said. The question led him to Duke.

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Finding the right fit at Sanford

When Gonçalves arrived at the Sanford School of Public Policy in 2021 as a PhD student he had already followed the work of several faculty members and knew he wanted to pursue research that stayed connected to real-world policy challenges.

Sanford offered the structure he needed to do that.

“What really drew me to Sanford was the combination of strong, policy-oriented scholars and a flexible PhD structure,” he said. “From the start, I knew I wanted to do interdisciplinary, applied work, but also grounded in solid theoretical foundations.”

That flexibility allowed him to build a program that combined rigorous methods with the questions he brought from government service. It also placed him within a broader academic community that shaped how he approached global challenges.

“Engaging with people trained in fields across the social sciences pushes you to see the same problem through multiple lenses,” he said. “The program also places a strong emphasis on impact, which help me to always search for purpose in my work.”

Studying climate, development, and inequality together

At Sanford, Gonçalves focused his research on the intersection of climate change, environmental policy, and development. His dissertation, Essays on the Political Economy of Sustainable Development, examines how environmental and economic goals interact, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

“My understanding of sustainable development is that environmental and developmental goals can, and should, walk hand in hand,” he said. His work looks at how environmental risks, including deforestation and climate shocks, intersect with chronic challenges such as poverty and inequality. Those connections shape livelihoods, health, and migration trends across the Global South. 

“What motivates this focus is that climate change is not an isolated problem,” he said. “It amplifies existing vulnerabilities and is already driving broader transformations in livelihoods, health, and migration.” He also points to a fundamental imbalance in who bears the cost. “Importantly, the populations most affected are often those who contribute the least to the problem, and who face a double burden of climate risk and economic hardship,” he said.

One example of this work studies the social impacts of environmental certification in Brazil, including programs such as Forest Stewardship Council certification. The research explores how efforts to promote sustainable resource use affect communities on the ground, from labor conditions to local economies.

Across projects, his goal remains consistent.

“My research seeks to understand these dynamics and, crucially, how policy and institutions can respond to them,” he said.

A consistent approach across different questions

Gonçalves describes himself as an applied political economist. He uses tools from political economy to study how rules, incentives, and human behavior shape outcomes across a range of policy areas. That approach connects work that might seem unrelated at first glance. His research spans topics from deforestation in Brazil to the political context behind book bans in U.S. schools.

“The project on book bans reflects a more generalist side of my work,” he said. “While the topic is different, the underlying approach is the same: using political economy and data to uncover the deeper drivers behind policy choices and their consequences on people.”

Whether he studies environmental governance or education policy, he centers on the same core problem: understanding how decisions get made and how they affect people’s lives.

collaboration, mentorship and the future

During his time at Duke, Gonçalves took courses and attended seminars across multiple disciplines, including political science, economics, sociology, demography, and data science. He built connections across campus and beyond, often through informal conversations that turned into collaborations.

“When I think about what defined my time at Duke, it’s not a single moment,” he said. “It’s those many conversations with advisors and peers, often over a coffee that went cold or a beer that got warm, working through ideas and trying to make sense of complicated problems or intriguing puzzles.”

He credits faculty mentors for helping him improve his approach and sharpen his research. Working with scholars such as Sarah Bermeo, Subhrendu Pattanayak, Alex Pfaff, Eddy Malesky, and Marcos Rangel pushed him to think more carefully about both theory and empirical strategy.

“What I take from all of this is a sense of how privileged I was to have scholars like Sarah, Subhrendu, Alex, and Eddy invest time in my development,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve mastered the craft, but I know I’ve become much sharper because of those interactions.”

After graduating, Gonçalves will join the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability as an Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Policy. In that role, he plans to continue bridging research and practice through both teaching and scholarship. He looks forward to working with students who plan to enter policy and practice, helping shape how they approach the relationship between development and sustainability. At the same time, he plans to stay engaged with real-world policy challenges and collaborate with practitioners.

“My goal is to generate insights that can inform the design and implementation of policies addressing the dual challenge of promoting inclusive development while ensuring environmental sustainability,” he said.

Advice for those considering the same path

For mid-career professionals thinking about returning to academia, Gonçalves stresses the importance of clarity and persistence.

“First, be very clear about what you want from the degree,” he said. “A PhD is a long and demanding investment, so having a clear goal really matters.” He also notes that the transition back to coursework and exams can take time. “But mid-career professionals bring something incredibly valuable: real-world experience and practical insight,” he said. “The key is to lean into that advantage.”

Beyond the classroom

Outside of his research, Gonçalves embraced the wider Duke experience. He built friendships, explored new traditions, and took advantage of North Carolina’s geography, from the mountains to the coast.

“Duke is a very international place, so I found myself celebrating things I hadn’t experienced before,” he said, recalling holidays and cultural events enjoyed with friends.

Some lessons came the hard way.

“One of them was during a tropical storm,” he said. “If the locals are leaving, you probably should too.”

Through it all, the question that brought him to Duke continues guiding his work.

“At the end of the day, my goal is pretty simple (if a bit ambitious): to better understand these challenges and help develop solutions that can tackle environmental sustainability and poverty at the same time.”