Ismael Ibarra is one of the few academic researchers in Mexico trying to narrow the gap between Academy and Permaculture. He's the co-founder of Permaciudad, a group that works inside Mexico City's Xochimilco Natural Reserve, where they are developing a project that merges prehispanic chinampa technology, and modern design thinking (Permaculture, holistic management and natural agriculture).
He began his journey back in 2010, while studying Psychology in Uruguay. At that time he realized that agroecology was an exciting subject, so he presented a research project about organic farmers' daily life and environmental ethics. This was the first step. In 2014 he got his Master's Degree in Social Psychology, writing a thesis about Chinampa Farming and bonds with nature, where he got his first experiences with permaculture, and started working in a chinampa to this date. During 2015 he took a non official Permaculture course. Now he's studying a PhD in agrarian sciences, with focus on rural sociology, where he's researching about Permaculture as a social movement and how it affects the ones who get in touch with it. In 2016 he took a PDC course with Richard Perkins and the REX course with Darren Doherty.