Vintchenza Caputo is an undergraduate student in Social Sciences (Bachelor’s degree) at the University of São Paulo (USP). She qualified as an Environmental Technician at the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (IFES). She is currently an intern member of the Mecila team.

vmcaputo@zedat.fu-berlin.de 

+55 11 55740399 | 118
Rua Morgado de Mateus, 615

Centro de Difusão Internacional – USP
Av. Prof. Lúcio Martins Rodrigues, 310

Juliana Lugão is a journalist who holds a master’s degree in Literature from PUC-Rio and a Doctorate in Literary Studies from Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), both of which were funded by CNPq. Between 2021 and 2025, she conducted research in the Postgraduate Programme in Literary Science at UFRJ, funded by FAPERJ. During her doctoral studies and postdoctoral research fellowship, she was a visiting researcher at the Walter Benjamin Archives in Berlin, with fundings by CNPq, DAAD and FAPERJ. She has published work focusing primarily on literary translation, interartistic and interdisciplinary relations in literature, and the work and manuscripts of the German author Walter Benjamin, including translations of his work.

juliana.lugao@fu-berlin.de
Rua Morgado de Mateus, 615
04015-051 São Paulo, Brazil

Our Events and Outreach Coordinator has a degree in Social Communication from ECA-USP and a postgraduate (lato sensu) degree in Business Administration from the Fundação Getúlio Vargas. She worked in the publishing market before turning to corporate communications and scientific dissemination. She joined Mecila’s team in São Paulo in 2018.

+55 11 55740399 | 118
melanie.metzen@fu-berlin.de
Rua Morgado de Mateus, 615
04015-051 São Paulo, Brazil

Roberta Hesse is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at USP, holds a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from USP, and a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from USP. Currently, she is also an associate researcher at “Centro de Estudos Ameríndios (CEstA/USP)”. She carried out one research internships and an academic exchange year at the University of Cologne. She has also worked with project management at the Associação Anna Laura. Since April 2022, she has been part of the Mecila team as a fellows assistant.

+55 11 55740399 | 118
roberta.hesse@fu-berlin.de
Rua Morgado de Mateus, 615
04015-051 São Paulo, Brazil