Leany has a Master’s degree in Political Science (1998) and a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies on the Americas (2005) from the University of Brasilia. She was a Fulbright/ APSA Congressional Fellow (2003-2004); Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University (2003-2004) and in the Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford (2006); and Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellow (2009-2011). She received the ALACIP Award for Best Thesis in Political Science in Latin America, biennium 2004-2005, and Honorable Mention from the Capes Teses Award, 2005. She was a full-time collaborator at IPOL/UnB between 2008-2013. She was also Secretary of Planning, Budget and Management of the Federal District from 2015 to 2018, and of the State of Rio Grande do Sul from January 2019 to June 2020, and Vice President of the National Council of Planning Secretaries (CONSEPLAN) and Administration (CONSAD) in different periods. She has been a career servant at the Brazilian Federal Senate since 1993 and a Professor at the Brazilian Institute of Public Law (IDP) since February 2017. Currently, she coordinates the Data Committee for the fight against COVID-19 in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, ahead of the strategy of controlled distance in the State.