RESEARCH AREA
Technologies, knowledges and contemporary life
RESEARCH AREA
Technologies, knowledges and contemporary life
Projects in this area
01The Production of Discourses on Depression and the Sociotechnical Assemblages of Psychotropic Drugs in Chilean SocietyThe project analyzes how discourses on depression are produced through the agential deployment of psychotropic drugs in the Metropolitan Region. Drawing on the concepts of performativity and sociotechnical assemblages, it examines scientific-psychiatric, state, and social registers to describe the mechanisms and effects that shape this public health phenomenon.
Period2026–2029FundingFONDECYT Iniciación N.º 11250870ResearcherAlejandro Castro GaticaDepartamento de Trabajo Social02Configurations of contemporary digital experience. Processes of subjectivation, embodiment and screen–nature relations among heavily online young adult TikTok usersThe study proposes a qualitative approach aimed at understanding lived experience, with an emphasis on bodily sensations, emotional states, and habitual practices associated with prolonged use, as well as the ways in which users themselves interpret and value their relationship with the platform.
Period2026FundingDIDCA Fund, Universidad Alberto HurtadoResearcherPablo CastilloMaster’s Program in Science, Technology and SocietyLinks03Epistemological integration in transdisciplinary research: evaluating an intelligent agent as a facilitator of knowledge co-creationThis study aims to analyze how the mediation of an intelligent agent reconfigures the sociotechnical conditions of transdisciplinary co-creation—specifically regarding participatory symmetry, epistemological integration, and the management of dissent—within heterogeneous working groups mediated by WhatsApp. It incorporates a gender perspective to identify inequalities, differentiated risks, and dynamics of power and/or violence.
Period2026–2027FundingDIDCA, Universidad Alberto Hurtado — Research Competition for Academic Staff Affiliated to Collaborative Research UnitsResearcherAmaranta AlfaroDepartment of JournalismResearcherCristian Olivares RodríguezFaculty of EngineeringCo-investigatorRenato Moretti TapiaDepartamento de Psicología Educacional04The sociotechnical imaginaries of engineering in Chile: nature, technology and societyPeriod2025–2026FundingDIDCA, Universidad Alberto Hurtado — Research Competition for Academic Staff Affiliated to Collaborative Research UnitsResearchersTomás UndurragaDepartment of SociologyResearcherCristian Olivares-RodríguezFaculty of Engineering05Civil engineering in Chile. A sociological study of the education, practice and performativity of a profession in times of climate crisisThis study seeks to describe and understand the formative, professional, and performative aspects of expert knowledge in civil engineering in Chile. Within a paradoxical context—characterized by both a lack of trust and a pressing need for infrastructure experts in the face of the climate crisis—the study examines how engineering professionals are trained and what they do in response to current climate challenges.
Period2023–2026FundingFONDECYT Postdoctoral N.º 3230083ResearcherFrancisco SalinasDepartment of Sociology06Territorial Intelligence System for Tourism in Protected Wild Areas and Gateway CommunitiesThe aim is to develop and install—through a participatory process—a technological system for territorial intelligence geared toward the sustainable management of tourism. This system is intended to improve decision-making by public authorities, institutions, local governments, and tourism service providers, while also enhancing the visitor experience and fostering a better understanding of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism.
Period2022–2026FundingFONDEF IDeA ID22I10129ResearcherCristian Olivares-RodríguezFaculty of Engineering07Knowledge production in contemporary Chile: A multidisciplinary study of science in the makingThis analysis examines scientific practices, institutional frameworks, and scientific cultures in Chile in light of the processes of knowledge generation. How do the nature and practices of scientific research shape the institutional framework of science? How should the research processes that lead to results be characterized? How do these processes unfold within different epistemic cultures?
Period2019–2022FundingCONICYT – PIA AnilloResearcherTomás UndurragaDepartment of Sociology
Projects in this area
01
The Production of Discourses on Depression and the Sociotechnical Assemblages of Psychotropic Drugs in Chilean Society
The project analyzes how discourses on depression are produced through the agential deployment of psychotropic drugs in the Metropolitan Region. Drawing on the concepts of performativity and sociotechnical assemblages, it examines scientific-psychiatric, state, and social registers to describe the mechanisms and effects that shape this public health phenomenon.
Period
2026–2029
Funding
FONDECYT Iniciación N.º 11250870
Researcher
Alejandro Castro Gatica
Departamento de Trabajo Social
02
Configurations of contemporary digital experience. Processes of subjectivation, embodiment and screen–nature relations among heavily online young adult TikTok users
The study proposes a qualitative approach aimed at understanding lived experience, with an emphasis on bodily sensations, emotional states, and habitual practices associated with prolonged use, as well as the ways in which users themselves interpret and value their relationship with the platform.
Period
2026
Funding
DIDCA Fund, Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Researcher
Pablo Castillo
Master’s Program in Science, Technology and Society
Links
03
Epistemological integration in transdisciplinary research: evaluating an intelligent agent as a facilitator of knowledge co-creation
This study aims to analyze how the mediation of an intelligent agent reconfigures the sociotechnical conditions of transdisciplinary co-creation—specifically regarding participatory symmetry, epistemological integration, and the management of dissent—within heterogeneous working groups mediated by WhatsApp. It incorporates a gender perspective to identify inequalities, differentiated risks, and dynamics of power and/or violence.
Period
2026–2027
Funding
DIDCA, Universidad Alberto Hurtado — Research Competition for Academic Staff Affiliated to Collaborative Research Units
Researcher
Amaranta Alfaro
Department of Journalism
Researcher
Cristian Olivares Rodríguez
Faculty of Engineering
Co-investigator
Renato Moretti Tapia
Departamento de Psicología Educacional
04
The sociotechnical imaginaries of engineering in Chile: nature, technology and society
Period
2025–2026
Funding
DIDCA, Universidad Alberto Hurtado — Research Competition for Academic Staff Affiliated to Collaborative Research Units
Researchers
Tomás Undurraga
Department of Sociology
Researcher
Cristian Olivares-Rodríguez
Faculty of Engineering
05
Civil engineering in Chile. A sociological study of the education, practice and performativity of a profession in times of climate crisis
This study seeks to describe and understand the formative, professional, and performative aspects of expert knowledge in civil engineering in Chile. Within a paradoxical context—characterized by both a lack of trust and a pressing need for infrastructure experts in the face of the climate crisis—the study examines how engineering professionals are trained and what they do in response to current climate challenges.
Period
2023–2026
Funding
FONDECYT Postdoctoral N.º 3230083
Researcher
Francisco Salinas
Department of Sociology
06
Territorial Intelligence System for Tourism in Protected Wild Areas and Gateway Communities
The aim is to develop and install—through a participatory process—a technological system for territorial intelligence geared toward the sustainable management of tourism. This system is intended to improve decision-making by public authorities, institutions, local governments, and tourism service providers, while also enhancing the visitor experience and fostering a better understanding of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism.
Period
2022–2026
Funding
FONDEF IDeA ID22I10129
Researcher
Cristian Olivares-Rodríguez
Faculty of Engineering
07
Knowledge production in contemporary Chile: A multidisciplinary study of science in the making
This analysis examines scientific practices, institutional frameworks, and scientific cultures in Chile in light of the processes of knowledge generation. How do the nature and practices of scientific research shape the institutional framework of science? How should the research processes that lead to results be characterized? How do these processes unfold within different epistemic cultures?
Period
2019–2022
Funding
CONICYT – PIA Anillo
Researcher
Tomás Undurraga
Department of Sociology
OTHER RESEARCH AREAS
Experimentation, Association and Habitability
Socio-ecological transformations
OTHER RESEARCH AREAS