About us
José Manuel Cerda
Founder and Director
USS Humanities Lab
Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and a Ph.D. in Medieval History from the University of New South Wales (Australia). He also holds a certificate in Digital Humanities (UCES, Argentina) and a certificate in University Teaching (Universidad del Desarrollo). He was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile. He founded and served as director of the Center for Medieval Studies, was dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and served as academic vice president at Gabriela Mistral University. He is a professor at San Sebastián University and the founder and director of the Humanities Lab.
María Luisa Salazar
Coordinator and Scholar
USS Humanities Lab
Coordinator of the Humanities Lab at the University of San Sebastián. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, a certificate in aesthetics and philosophy from the same university, and a master’s degree in applied philosophy from the University of Los Andes. She served as general coordinator of the Paso a Paso Foundation and contributed to the Content Lab of the newspaper La Tercera. She has experience in the management and leadership of editorial, cultural, and research projects at various institutions.
Sebastián Caro
Digital Humanist and Scholar
USS Humanities Lab
Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Chile, Master’s degree in Classical Languages from the Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences, and Master and Doctor in Educational Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He has extensive experience in teaching and research in Classical Languages, Linguistics, Grammar, Academic Writing, Higher Education, Corpus Linguistics, and Learning Analytics. His work integrates philological, pedagogical, and digital approaches, with a special interest in Digital Humanities, computational linguistic analysis, and the development of academic resources based on corpora and artificial intelligence.
Cristián León
Researcher and Scholar
USS Humanities Lab
Architect and holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Aesthetics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, a Master’s degree in Cultural Heritage Management, and a Ph.D. in Art and Architecture History from Pablo de Olavide University in Seville (Spain). He has extensive experience as a professor at various universities, is a faculty member at the University of San Sebastián, and serves as director of ARS MAGNA Digital Academy. He gives lectures at institutions and cultural centers both in Chile and abroad.
Francisca Díaz
Research Assistant
USS Humanities Lab
Bachelor’s degree in History and master’s degree in Cultural Heritage from the Pontifical Catholic University. She has experience as a teaching assistant in the Department of 19th-Century Chilean History and Heritage Management at the National Museum of Fine Arts and the National Historical Museum. She is a research assistant on various projects currently being carried out by the Humanities Laboratory at the University of San Sebastián.
Natalia Witt
Graphic Designer
USS Humanities Lab
Graphic designer with a degree in the humanities from the Universidad del Desarrollo. She has experience as a teaching assistant for the courses “A Thousand Years of Art and Symbolism,” “Packaging Design Workshop,” and “Components of Packaging.” She creates graphic designs to support branding, social media content, audiovisual materials, and graphic resources for various projects at the Humanities Lab.
Partners
Klaus Droste
Dean of the School of
Psychology and Humanities
Psychologist from Gabriela Mistral University, with a postgraduate degree in Philosophical Foundations from the University of the Andes and a Doctorate in Humanities from Abat Oliba CEU University in Barcelona (Spain). Dean of the School of Psychology and Humanities at San Sebastián University and professor at Finis Terrae University and the University of the Andes. He served as national coordinator of the Center for Thomistic Studies at Santo Tomás University and as a professor of Developmental Psychology, Learning Psychology, Adolescent Psychology, and Natural Law.
Carlos Maillet
Director of the Bachelor's
Program in Art and Heritage
Architect from the University of Chile (UM) and holder of a Master’s degree in History and Management of Cultural Heritage from the University of the Andes. Founder of the heritage consulting firm Grupo Praedio, he has served as a heritage advisor to the Ministry of Public Works, Director of Heritage for the Municipality of Santiago, Vice President of the National Monuments Council, and Director of the Cultural Heritage Service. He has taught at various institutions. Director of the Bachelor’s Program in Art and Heritage at the University of San Sebastián.
Ismini Sahli
CEUSS and Editorial Escolar USS
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History (2017) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and a Master’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern Studies (2019) from SOAS, University of London. She has extensive experience in university teaching at the University of Development and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She serves as the National Coordinator for the Leo and Sumo Primero programs. She currently serves as Coordinator of the San Sebastián University Publishing Project.
Gerardo Alcalde
Coordinator, Department of
Humanities and Culture, USS
Bachelor’s degree in History and Education and a teaching certificate in History for secondary education from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Digital Humanities at the University of La Rioja (UNIR) in Spain. He served as coordinator of the Center for Thomistic Studies at the UST and director of ICIF Chile, and has years of experience teaching at high schools and universities.
Carlos Hinrichsen
USS School of Digital Design and Creative Industries
Industrial designer and master’s graduate in engineering who studied in Chile and Japan, he has spent more than three decades adding value to society and businesses through interdisciplinary teams. His work has fostered competitiveness and leadership in various fields, and he continues to seek opportunities to make an impact and create value. He is the director of the School of Digital Design and Creative Industries at the USS Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, and Design.
Mauricio Cox
USS Strategic Educational Communities
He holds a Master’s degree in Theology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and is a graduate of the MBA program at the same university. He was a member of the Schoenstatt Fathers for more than twenty years. He currently works at the University of San Sebastián in the Center for Extension and Studies. He has taught courses and given lectures on the major religions and pilgrimage sites, as well as on the history of contemporary Africa. He is the author of the book ‘Sebastian Bitangwanimana y los mártires de la fraternidad de Burundi’.
Antonio Tapia
Support and Follow-up
USS Online Education
Master’s degree in Education and ICT, with a specialization in Technopedagogical Design in Education, from the Open University of Catalonia; teacher of history, geography, and social sciences; and Bachelor’s degree in History, with a specialization in Political Science, from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. He is currently the Director of Monitoring and Support for Online Education at the University of San Sebastián.
International Advisory Board
Elena González Blanco
Microsoft
She holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Philology and is an expert in artificial intelligence and digital innovation; her research and work have focused on language technologies and international interdisciplinary projects. She was the director and founder of the Digital Humanities Innovation Laboratory (UNED) and currently serves as president of the Association of Hispanic Digital Humanities and secretary of the Alliance for Digital Humanities Organizations. She has served as a professor and researcher at Harvard University, King’s College London, UNAM, and the University of Bonn. As CEO and co-founder of Clibrain, she currently serves as Head of Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft, supporting leading startups and unicorns across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She has been named one of the Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain in multiple editions.
Abigail Williams
King's College, University of London
She was Associate Director of Research and Innovation in the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford and is now Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at King’s College, University of London. Her research focuses on 18th-century literature. She was director of The Digital Miscellanies Index project and is currently working on an educational technology innovation project focused on literacy and writing skills in English. She has participated in collaborative projects with museums, heritage institutions, and the creative industries, and has developed cultural radio programs and podcasts for BBC Radio 4.
Marianne Gullberg
Lunds universitet
Professor of Psycholinguistics and Chair of the Humanities Laboratory at Lund University and of Huminfra (Sweden’s National Infrastructure for the Humanities). Her research focuses on language acquisition and processing in second-language and multilingual speakers, particularly semantics, discourse, and the production and comprehension of gestures. She directed The Dynamics of Multilingual Processing at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and chairs the International Society for Gestural Studies. She has received significant recognition for her research and was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2015.
Miguel Larrañaga
IE University
Ph.D. in Medieval History from the University of Deusto. He previously managed projects at Eraman Cultural Services in San Sebastián and is currently Vice Provost for Student Affairs and a professor at IE University, as well as director of the Center for Research on Antiquity and the Middle Ages at IE University. He has been a visiting professor in Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and has published numerous books and research articles and participated in research projects in his areas of scientific interest, primarily focused on the Middle Ages: society, culture, iconography, paleography, and heritage.
Rubén Montoya
IE University
Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Leicester. He writes regularly for National Geographic History Magazine, *Historia y Vida*, and *La Vanguardia*, and his interest in project management led him to complete the Prince2 methodology course, earning the Foundation Certificate. As a professor at IE University, he combines his teaching duties with project design and management. His research focuses on classical art and architecture, the city of Pompeii, as well as the theory of globalization and glocalization.
Matthew Smith
Royal Holloway, University of London
He has carried out collaborative work and projects with Black Cultural Archives, the History of Parliament Trust, the National Archives, the National Trust, the People’s History Museum, the UK Parliament, the UK Supreme Court, and the Egham Museum. He is the creator and producer of the educational YouTube channel History Hub and leads the Engaged Humanities project at Royal Holloway, University of London.