Biography
Leonardo Delmondes is a humanitarian and public policy professional with over a decade of experience working on forced displacement, asylum governance, and institutional digital transformation across Latin America. Since beginning his career with UNHCR, he has held positions in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, and Ecuador, supporting refugees and asylum seekers, governments and international partners during some of the largest mixed-movement situations in the Americas.
Over the past eight years with UNHCR, Leonardo has worked at the intersection of refugee protection, data governance, and public administration. He has advised asylum authorities on registration systems, digital transformation, and case management processes, while leading multidisciplinary teams and contributing to emergency responses in high-pressure operational environments. His work has focused on strengthening the capacity of asylum institutions to respond effectively, fairly, and sustainably to large-scale human mobility.
As a Policy Leader Fellow at the Florence School of Transnational Governance, Leonardo will explore the responsible use of artificial intelligence in refugee status determination and asylum procedures. His project examines how governments can leverage emerging technologies to improve efficiency while safeguarding due process, transparency, and access to rights. More broadly, he is interested in the relationship between technology, institutional legitimacy, and transnational governance in an era marked by increasing displacement and geopolitical uncertainty.
Leonardo holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University Centre of Brasília and is passionate about bridging operational practice and policy design to advance more resilient, rights-based governance systems.