Tomás Ariztia
I am a Full Professor and Chair of the School of Sociology at Diego Portales University, Chile. My work -which is situated at the intersections of science and technology studies, economic and environmental sociology- broadly concerns the study of knowledge practices and technologies in economic and environmental worlds. During last years I have focused on exploring the social, political, and cultural aspects of sustainable energy transitions in Chile and Latin America. I have done extensive research on energy transitions area in which I lead the “Núcleo Milenio en Energía y Sociedad” and associative project that have explored the cultural, social and political dimensions of energy transitions in Chile. I have also recently carried out empirical research on the domestic, commercial, and regulatory lives of clean tech in Latin America as spaces of transformative change. I recently developed the “Catalogo de tecnologías locales” a digital platform that aims at identifying and circulation local sustainable innovations for climate action. My work has been published in several international journals such as The British Journal of Sociology, Sociological Review, Journal of Cleaner Production, Environment and Planning A, among others. I am currently working on a 4-year research and eventually book project that seeks to explore the social aspects of the installation of a new green hydrogen industry in Chilean Patagonia. The project seeks to explore the energy futures, valuation struggles and frictions around the development of new infrastructures and markets for the energy transitions in southern Patagonia.