Santiago joined the Department of Social Policy as an LSE Fellow in 2025. His research examines the politics of environmental governance, with a focus on how bureaucratic structures and subnational politics shape natural resource management in contexts of fragmentation, politicisation, and inequality. While his work centres on Latin America and the Global South, he is also interested in South–North comparisons. Methodologically, Santiago combines computational, quantitative, and qualitative approaches, including social network analysis, machine learning, experimental and quasi-experimental techniques, elite interviews, and historical analysis of regulatory change.

Santiago is currently completing a PhD in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. He holds an MSc in Social Research Methods from LSE, an MSc in Applied Economics, and a BA in Political Science from EAFIT University (Colombia). He has also worked as a researcher and consultant for the World Bank, the Colombian National Government, and the Metropolitan Area of Medellín, as well as a teaching fellow at UNAULA (Colombia).