With the presence of authorities from the Universidad del Desarrollo, researchers from the Research Center in Social Complexity (CICS), as well as academics and students, this Thursday, August 1, the Doctorate in Social Complexity Sciences (DCCS) welcomed the new generation of students entering the program.
In his words of welcome, the DCCS Director, Jorge Fábrega, pointed out that “It is possible that when you say you are going to start a doctorate in Social Complexity Sciences, people have asked you ‘what social complexity is about’. You will receive that question for a while more. And your answers will change as you progress through the program (…). What I can tell you is that, here, this complexity is approached from three pillars: interdisciplinary, a quantitative approach and open and extensive networks of collaboration. We invite you to contribute to this process, to dare to contribute in a big way, to the possibility of extending the networks and, finally, to reflect all this in a meaningful investigation”. In this regard, the Dean of the Faculty of Government, Eugenio Guzmán, argues that the students who enter “have a big challenge, not only to be better or equal than previous generations but also to represent what has been done so far, which has to do with a collaborative work, with a lot of dedication to academic activity and research”.
The student of the 2015 DCCS generation, Mauricio Aspé, spoke on behalf of the students who, with a touch of humor, reviewed the life of the doctoral student, ensuring that “the night spent with friends between laughs and drinks, will become one surrounded by photocopies and transposed matrices. (…) However, the generations that we are leaving, we have survived because passion and discipline can be more than any academic load”. Aspé suggests healthy competition, collaborative ties, having an open mind and avoiding excessive stress because “at the end, we take a briefcase with a lot of useful tools for social utility.”
After the ceremony, the DCCS Director, Jorge Fábrega, together with the Director of Research and Postgraduate, Denise Saint-Jean, gave a talk to the new students in order to inform the general guidelines of the relationship between Vice Rectory of Research and Postgraduate (VID) and DCCS. Fábrega focused on presenting the program, with its objectives and goals, the curriculum configuration, the teaching courses and the development of research in its initial stages. Saint-Jean, stressed the institutional benefits, and announced the agreements for doing internships and the co-tutelage system with foreign universities, among other topics.
The DCCS figures: 392 applications since the beginning of the Doctorate, with a percentage of admission of 7.7% (30 students accepted), in a rigorous selection process.
The students entering this year are:
Mateus Rigo Noriller, 28, Brazil. Degree in Economics and Master in Economics from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Recently, Mateus has been working as an Assistant Researcher in the area of statistics and Econometrics at the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). His areas of interest are Social Complexity and Economy; the neurobiological basis of morality and decision making, in addition to stochastic, statistical and graphic processes.
Joselina Davyt, 32, Uruguay. Degree in Economics and Master in Economics from the University of the Republic, Uruguay. Until this year, she was working as a machine learning and Big Data teacher at ORT University in her country. She also served as Senior Analyst Intelligence Analyst at CPA FERRERE. Her areas of interest are Economics, Statistics, Big Data and Complex Networks.
Melanie Oyarzún, 31, Chile. Commercial Engineer, Bachelor of Science in Administration and Master in Economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. Over the past five years, Melanie has conducted classes as an Associate Professor in Microeconomics, Introduction to Economics and Econometrics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. Her areas of interest are Applied Microeconometrics, Labor Economics, Teaching Innovation and Learning, Impact Assessment, Development Economics and Family and Gender Economics.
Patricio Carvajal, 30, Chile. Sociologist of the University of Chile. Currently, Patricio carries out several activities, among which his assistance to the coordination of the Master in Social Sciences of FACSO, at the University of Chile; his role as Project and Training Director at the Triciclos Center and his participation as Principal Co-Investigator in the “Sentidos en Movimiento” project, carrying out data collection on South American subjects and institutions in nine countries. His interests are the study, analysis and intervention in collective entities to enhance its operation.
Daniel Torrico, 28, Bolivia. Biologist and Bachelor of Biology from the University of San Simón, Bolivia and Master in Biological Sciences from the University of Chile. He has been working as a researcher in the Laboratory of Ecological Chemistry at the University of Chile for almost eight years, as well as being a Guest Professor in the chair “Vibrational communication in insects and plants” at the Faculty of Science of the same University. His areas of interest are human social behavior, as well as ecology and evolutionary biology.
