Team

Faculty, students, research associates, and visitors of the Social Networks Group – UC

Core Faculty

Alejandro Espinosa-Rada

Assistant Professor · Institute of Sociology, PUC

PhD in Sociology, University of Manchester (Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis); previously postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at ETH Zürich’s Social Networks Lab. Research: sociology of social networks, group dynamics, sociology of science and knowledge, and statistical models for social networks. Author and maintainer of netmem.

Faculty profile →

Karina Arias

Associate Professor · School of Government, PUC

PhD in Public Administration and Policy, Florida State University. Research: metropolitan governance, inter-municipal cooperation, and network analysis applied to public administration. Board member, Chilean Society for Social Network Science (CHISOCNET).

Faculty profile →

Daniela Luengo

Assistant Professor · College UC & Faculty of Education, PUC

PhD in Educational Policy, University of Rochester. Research combines the economics of education, quasi-experimental methods, and network analysis to study educational-labor trajectories, equity and inclusion, and the adoption of innovations in school systems.

Faculty profile →

Are you a permanent academic at UC? We welcome faculty from any unit whose work touches social networks — quantitatively, computationally, or substantively — to join the group. Email anespinosa@uc.cl to talk about it.

Researchers

MB

María G. Barrera

PhD · Agronomy and Natural Systems, PUC

Doctoral Students

RZ

Raúl Zuleta

PhD Candidate · Anthropology, PUC

LH

Liliana Hurtado

PhD Candidate · Communications, PUC

VR

Valquiria Ramos

PhD Candidate · Communications, PUC

DT

Daniel Toro

PhD Candidate · Industrial & Systems Engineering, Universidad de Chile

DC

Diego Caro

PhD Candidate · Sociology, University of Manchester

RC

Roberto Cantillán

PhD Candidate · Sociology, PUC

Master’s Students & Research Assistants

LV

Lorenzo Vives

MA, Sociology, PUC

AD

Alberto Durán

MA Candidate · Sociology, PUC

TP

Trajan Pirkovic

MA Candidate · Sociology, PUC

Research Associates

External collaborators who hold a continuing affiliation with the group.

FO

Francisca Ortiz

Researcher · School of Government and Public Administration, Universidad Mayor, Chile

Social support networks, caregiving systems, and social exclusion.

DP

Diego Palacios

Associate Professor · CISS, Universidad Mayor, Chile

Social network analysis of peer relationships and behavior in educational settings.

FT

Francisco Trincado-Muñoz

Associate Professor in Business Analytics · Oxford Brookes Business School, UK

Technology adoption, trust in technology, and HR analytics.

GV

George G. Vega Yon

Assistant Professor of Research · Division of Epidemiology, University of Utah, USA

Complex systems, statistical computing, and scientific software for social network analysis.

IT

Ignacio Toledo

Researcher-Teacher · Faculty of Design, Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile

Computational social science applied to design management, innovation ecosystems, and design for sustainability.

Visitors & Exchanges

Name	Home institution	Visit period
Matías Montero	University of Oxford	April – October 2025
Daniel Trujillo Martins Fontes	Universidade de São Paulo	July – August 2025
Pavel Krivitsky	University of New South Wales	January 2026

Internship

Name	Program	Home institution	Period
Paloma Rojas	Design	Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile	April – September 2025