Dr Fernando Miramontes Forattini is a SyMeCo postdoctoral fellow with Lero@DCU specialising in corruption studies, public policy, and inequalities, with a strong focus on technology, historical sociology and economics. He is undertaking his fellowship under the supervision of Prof Regina Connolly.

Fernando holds a PhD in Historical Sociology from PUC-SP, Brazil, partially completed at the University of Chicago, USA. His PhD and lauded master’s thesis, led to the publication of three books now housed in top university libraries (e.g., Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley), the U.S. Congress Library, and the British Library. His research has also earned invitations to publish a chapter with Cambridge University Press. He is a co-founder of the Corruption in the Global South Research Consortium, a global interdisciplinary hub dedicated to studying corruption.

Fernando’s SyMeCo research project, titled “Sextortion in Public Service Delivery and the Role of GovTech,” investigates the complex and often overlooked nexus between corruption and gender-based violence, with a specific focus on sextortion. Sextortion represents a pernicious form of corruption where those in power exploit their authority to solicit sexual favours from vulnerable individuals, often in exchange for access to essential public services.

The project explores GovTech solutions, particularly how innovations can improve public service delivery by enhancing transparency, accountability, and data-driven governance. In tandem, the project also promotes a more inclusive approach to technological development by reinterpreting core concepts, such as ethical frameworks, trust, sensemaking, and the true empowerment that technologies can offer. It utilizes a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses, to dissect the structural and socio-cultural factors that perpetuate sextortion within public service sectors.

The project impact extends across multiple dimensions – academic, social, and technological – each contributing to the broader goal of addressing sextortion within public service delivery.

Project website: https://www.safergov.org/