Georgina M. Gómez is Associate Professor in Institutions and Local Development at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She obtained a PhD with distinction with a thesis on Community and Complementary Currency Systems in Argentina. She has published and supervises doctoral candidates on monetary innovation, local economic development in Latin America, social and solidarity economy, and institutional and grassroots economics. In 2012 she established a postgraduate diploma on Sustainable Local Economic Development in partnership with the Institute of Housing and Sustainability of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She led the establishment of a new Master in Local Development Studies at the Universidad de los Llanos in Villavicencio Colombia. She has directed development projects on Local Economic Development in Brazil, Nicaragua, Western Africa and Colombia funded by The World Bank, Woord en Daad, and other cooperation agencies, respectively.