Research University Institute from the State of Rio de Janeiro
Cristiano Faria is a Ph.D. student in sociology and political science at the Research University Institute from the State of Rio de Janeiro, one of the main Brazilian social sciences centers for research and postgraduate studies. His area of interest is related to how information and communication technology tools may help the development of participative democracy mechanisms in order to influence public decisions, mainly those that involve the formulation of policies in legislative arenas. Faria holds a MS in public policy from Queen Mary's College, University of London, and he is also specialist in juridical order and legislative advisory at the Federal University of Brasilia. He has been a project manager in legistic, electronic democracy, popular participation, and legislative intelligence at the Brazilian Parliament since 1993 with experience in legislative process, committee work, parliamentarian advisory, and public policy formulation.