Natalia Albert Llorente
Natalia is researching social cohesion in Aotearoa: does housing policy matter? A complex systems approach
Email: natalia.albertllorente@vuw.ac.nz
Supervisors: Professor Markus Luczak-Roesch and Dr Alex Beattie
Profile
Natalia is a Mexican-born New Zealand citizen living in Wellington with her husband, Mike, and their three chihuahuas—Margy, Micho, and Monty. Natalia loves to read, write and bike; her recent fiction favourites include The Women by Kristin Hannah and The Magus by John Fowles. In nonfiction, The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama and Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson are two favourites. Natalia works hard on improving her writing through Less Certain, a weekly Substack newsletter where she shares insights on politics, policy, and society.
Professionally, Natalia has spent 14 years in the New Zealand government, leading teams and coordinating high-impact projects, including New Zealand’s Social Cohesion Policy at the Ministry of Social Development and regulatory reforms in the mining sector at the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment. Natalia also served as Private Secretary to Hon. James Shaw (Minister of Statistics), where she supported Stats NZ in navigating Census 2018 challenges at the political interface. Her work sits at the intersection of policy, data, and politics.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts (Politics) – Massey University
Master of Political Science – Victoria University of Wellington
Research Interests
- Political Science and Comparative Politics
- Institutionalism and Policy Governance
- Housing Policy and Social Cohesion
- Information Systems and Policy Analysis