João Carlos Vieira Costa Cavalcanti Rocha is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Law, Queen’s University. His dissertation explores the normative democratic theory and constitutional law, including comparative perspectives.
He obtained an LLM at Queen’s University in 2019. His thesis revolved around an authoritarian era in the history of Brazil – the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas – and its relationship with anti-liberal legal thought.
Before coming to Canada, João Rocha worked for five years as a lawyer in a Law office specialized in Brazilian Administrative Law. He also taught Brazilian and Western Civilization History for several years, including a period at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (History Department).
During his legal training, he had the opportunity to study at the University of Lisbon, as a holder of Santander Universities Portugal-Brazil Scholarship. João Rocha has been awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2019-2020).
He is a music and literature enthusiastic. He also loves to watch sports (especially basketball) and has two pets.