Congratulations! How did it feel to accepted, and moving abroad?

Martín Álvarez, PhD student. Photo: Private.

The day I received the notification of my acceptance into the program, I was in the middle of a seminar. Pursuing a PhD had been a long-standing aspiration of mine, but I had only mentioned it subtly to former colleagues and friends to avoid creating high expectations. The notification came as a complete surprise, and while I couldn’t celebrate it in the typical Chilean way—with loud enthusiasm and excitement—it still made my day.

The first thing I did was call my wife to let her know, so she could start getting ready for this adventure. We began organizing farewells, packing, and preparing ourselves emotionally for the move. My knowledge of Europe, and Sweden in particular, was quite limited. Beyond general associations like Vikings, political refugees from Chile’s dictatorship, the welfare state, and ABBA, my most immediate connection to Sweden was through DJ Méndez, a Chilean urban artist who enjoyed brief popularity there in the 1990s.

Moving abroad is undoubtedly challenging, especially when it comes to leaving behind family and friends, and dealing with all the bureaucratic hurdles. However, the rewards are undeniable. This opportunity was a leap I had been eager to take, and I cannot fully describe the excitement and joy of embarking on such a meaningful adventure.

Tell us about your project!
My project looks at violence through a comparative case study of two very different yet surprisingly connected contexts: the emblematic poblaciones in Santiago, Chile, and the vulnerable neighborhoods built under Sweden’s Million Programme in Stockholm. On the surface, these two places couldn’t be more different—geographically, culturally, socially, and economically. But they share a striking similarity: both are seeing an increase in violence tied to illegal markets, fueled by the growing use of firearms.

We know that violence doesn’t affect everyone equally. It tends to concentrate in neighborhoods that have been pushed to the margins by the state, institutions, and public policies—peripheral areas in both the Global North and South. My research looks specifically at the ways violence is used and takes shape among young gang members in these neighborhoods, which is, unfortunately, another brutal connection between the two contexts.

What I find especially interesting is that we can’t fully understand gang violence by just focusing on the gangs themselves. Instead, I think it’s important to zoom out and consider how violence is connected to other social processes, like the dynamics within the communities, as well as policing and securitization practices. There’s something happening here—ways in which violence chains together, fractures, or creates tensions—that hasn’t been explored enough.

Of course, this is a big challenge, and I’m taking it seriously. It’s not about drawing simple, causal links to explain violence in both settings. Instead, it’s about uncovering why these similar patterns emerge, while anchoring them in the specific historical and social realities of each place. Only then can we start to define the similarities and differences in how violence plays out in these contexts.

What are you looking forward to do?
At the moment, I’m still in the very early stages of my project. As we say in Chile, it’s still “in diapers.” Rather than feeling stressed, I’m approaching this challenge with enthusiasm and an open mind. The atmosphere in the department is incredibly stimulating—I have great colleagues who are also PhD candidates, and two excellent supervisors who are helping me shape the project and collectively build the short- and medium-term direction it should take.

If you ask me what I’m hoping for, honestly, I just hope things keep progressing at the same pace. In the little over two months I’ve been in Sweden, I’ve felt completely supported and accompanied through this process.

What have you worked with before you came here?
Before starting this project, I worked at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS) at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. This is a multidisciplinary research center that connects urban and territorial studies with issues like transportation, energy, and water resources, all through the lens of social justice and sustainability.

For five years, I led the Urban Labs team within the center’s Policy and Practice Unit. My work focused on conducting research, particularly in vulnerable neighborhoods, using participatory methodologies inspired by the paradigm of action-research and co-production of knowledge. Simply put, we worked to bridge the gap between theory and practice alongside the communities we collaborated with. Through this work, we aimed to propose practical recommendations for public policy development.

In parallel with my work, I served as a senior researcher on two long-term projects over six years: the first, Urban Marginality and Institutional Effects, and the second, The Politics of Urban Marginality: Institutionalized Poverty and Gender Roles in the Reconfiguration of Emblematic Poblaciones.

What is your previous education?
I studied sociology and completed my master’s in urban development at the same university where I later had the privilege of working for five wonderful years.