Paulina is a social worker from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She studied for a master’s degree in Public and Social Policies in Pompeu Fabra University, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University.
Her special fields of interest are public and social policies. Her main skills are design, planning, management, and evaluation of public and social policies, which have been acquired through her professional experience in different public organizations of Chile, such as the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, National Minors Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Housing, among others.
Furthermore, she has been a consultant for the European Union, Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
She has been a Lecturer in research methodologies; design, and evaluation of social projects. Moreover, she has guided final thesis and practices in the Social Work degree programme at the University of the Americas in her home country.
Research Questions:
- What is the nature of children’s participation in public policy making?
- What concept of childhood participation is relevant to the Chilean context?
- What does childhood participation look like in Chile?
- What are the barriers that need to be addressed to promote childhood participation in the public sphere?
- What are the opportunities to foster childhood participation in the public sphere?
In her master’s thesis she identified the need for a relational change in Chilean public schools. However, the promotion of this change transcends the student space, since childhood would develop in contexts where violent dynamics are reproduced and promoted. For this reason, her current doctoral research focuses on Chilean Public and Social Policies in Childhood, regarding the revision of the current system that exists in the country and how the participation of children and young people develop in it, due to the fact that children and adolescents are demanding a position in Chilean society with greater force, as social subjects who want to actively participate in the current process of socio-political, economic, and cultural transformation in Chile, which has led to embarking on the path towards a constitutional change.
Within the areas in which she has deepened her knowledge during her academic and work experience, the following are relayed: childhood, education, participation, social and school violence, social inequalities as well as the field of international relations, cultural management and socio-urban intervention through art and culture, and social planning, with emphasis on territory.
Regarding social research, she has always had great interest in qualitative and quantitative methods, due to the substantial possibility of researching and obtaining new knowledge that could contribute to academia and the welfare of communities, their societies, and countries.
PGR Supervisors: Professor Stephen Case and Dr. Laura Valadez-Martinez
- Jara-Osorio, P. (2019). Wages, incomes, and wealth inequalities in Chile: origins and main characteristics. In González Cortés et al., The challenge of a more horizontal and less unequal society (301-314). Santiago: Univérsitas Nueva Civilización.
- Jara-Osorio, P. & Cortés-Mora, C. (2018). The permanence of Latin American immigrants in Barcelona. Factors that affect the permanence of Bolivians and Colombians in a context of economic crisis. Letonia: Editorial Académica Española.