Navigating Colombian rivers

As Creative and Narrative Specialist, I led the creative direction and design production of the narratives for Navigating Colombian Rivers with WhatsApp, translating complex interdisciplinary research and community knowledge into engaging visual and audiovisual formats designed specifically for circulation through WhatsApp.

The project connects scientific and local knowledge through a series of animated videos, comics, and micro-podcasts exploring the water–energy–food nexus and the transformations experienced by riverside territories in the Magdalena–Cauca basin.

Developed through a Transdisciplinary Editorial Lab (TELab), the project brings together researchers, riverside communities, and communication professionals to foster dialogue between different ways of knowing and understanding the river. The project is part of the Water Security for Whom? research initiative.

Project Coordinator: Laura Betancur Alarcón, Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Tobias Krüger, Co-Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Rossella Alba.

Community Partner: Jully Mora (Fishing Leader from the Lower Sogamoso River Basin). Academic Advisors: Camila Jiménez Sáenz and Laura Pulgarín Morales (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana); Prof. Dr. Denisse Roca-Servat (INER, Universidad de Antioquia). Communication and Creative Narrative Specialists: Prof. Dr. Ginna Morelo and Mg. Daniel Morelo, EntreRíos Museo. Research Assistants: Matthias Zarama Giedion (HU Berlin) and Kimberly Alejandra Valencia Cardona (INER, Universidad de Antioquia).

Partner Institutions and Organizations:

• IRI THESys, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)
• Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) (Germany)
• Institute of Regional Studies, Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia)
• Entre Ríos Museo (Colombia)
• Fisherfolk collectives and associations across the Magdalena–Cauca basin
• This project is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation through its Additional Funding for Science Communication program.