The expert researcher in school life and CICS collaborator in the project FONDEF, Jorge Varela, PhD, earned the recognition for his doctoral thesis titled School Variables as a Protective Factor for Violent Behavior, which, after this prize, is regarded as the best thesis of the program in 2016.

Jorge is a member of the Research Center for the Improvement of Education (CIME) and the Center for Studies on Social Welfare and Coexistence (Cebcs). Since his return to UDD after completing his doctoral studies, he has worked closely with CICS in his FONDEF project it15i10079: Digital games platform for the measurement of cooperation provisions for school coexistence, providing his specialized knowledge in the field of school coexistence.