Daniela Campos Ugaz

I earned my Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am currently Assistant Director and Director of Graduate Studies of the Master’s in Development Practice at Emory University. Previously, I served as Scholar-in-Residence and Lecturer in Sociology at Hamilton College during the 2024-2025 academic year. My research sits at the intersection of labor and migration, law and society, economic sociology, global and transnational sociology, development, comparative political economy, and Latin American Studies.

Broadly, I study labor governance and globalization, with a focus on how institutions of work, migration, and welfare are reconfigured in response to global pressures, and how these transformations shape inequality across transnational, national, and organizational scales. My work combines quantitative (administrative data and surveys, including survey design), qualitative, and comparative-historical research approaches. My doctoral dissertation, The Politics of Skills Shortages: Labor Sourcing in the Transition to the Knowledge Economy in the United States, Germany, and Costa Rica, examines how states source skilled labor during the transition to the knowledge economy, focusing on the relationship between training and migration.

Before graduate school, I worked as a consultant for the International Labour Organization and the World Bank, as a research assistant at the Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE) and at the Research Center of Universidad del Pacífico (CIUP), and as an economic analyst at the Ministry of Health. I hold a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Universidad del Pacífico.

You can view a copy of my CV here.