Research teams

The work of three different research teams is coordinated under COMURES: GRESCO, GISMAT and LoCUS.

GRESCO The Socio-cultural Contemporary Studies Group (in Spanish Grupo de Estudios Socio-culturales Contemporáneos) research group from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid that began its activity in the mid-1990s. Its purpose is mainly focused on carrying out research, although it has an important learning and teaching orientation that has allowed young teachers and researchers to be trained, contributing to the generation and renewal of knowledge in the social sciences. Its main lines of research are:

  • Socio-cultural transformations: individualization, secularization and changes in the university model.
  • Work, employment and business in a changing world.
  • Social theory, globalization, transnationalism and spatial reconfigurations of social life.
  • Body, health and gender.
  • Vulnerability and social inequality.
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gismat

The GISMAT research group of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), belongs to the global change and new energies cluster, as well as to the cultural heritage cluster. The team is composed of sociologists with extensive experience in the field of study that gives the group its title (environment, territory, housing, vulnerability, social cohesion, etc.) and has developed over recent years an intense research on housing issues that have resulted in numerous publications and multiple interventions that can be seen in the curricula of its members.

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LoCUS is formed by a multidisciplinary team of experts in urban planning, architecture, engineering and GIS to cover the urban complexity in its multiple dimensions. Most of its members carry out their research and teaching activities at the Escuela Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (Madrid School of Architecture in English;ETSAM-UPM), the Fundación Miguel Aguiló from the Technical School of civil engineering of the Polytechnic University (ETSICCP-UPM), and other architecture schools relevant in the international scene; such as the one in Birmingham and the IUAV of Venice.

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COMURES Researchers

A great multidisciplinary team composed by experts in sociology, socio-spatial analysis, urbanism and architecture.

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Margarita Barañano Cid (GRESCO)

mbaranan@ucm.es

Margarita Barañano Cid holds a PhD in Sociology and is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology III at the Complutense University of Madrid. She has researched the spatial dimension of the impact of globalisation, studying the formation of multicultural neighbourhoods, as well as transnational households and families, and, more recently, the multi-scale reconfiguration of social reproduction and care, and vulnerability, participation and citizenship, applied to the case of Madrid. Another of her lines of research is related to transnationalism "from above", analysing the social responsibility of large transnational companies in a context of globalisation, uncertainty and risk. She has also dealt specifically with the social responsibility of universities and the sociology of the university's student body.

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Sara Porras Sánchez (GRESCO)

sporrass@ucm.es

Sara Porras Sánchez is a Professor of Sociology and researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid. She holds a degree in Political Science and Administration with a double major in Political Analysis and Latin America. She holds a Master's degree in Human Rights for developing countries from IEPALA and the UCM and is currently completing her doctoral thesis in the area of urban studies and gender. She has carried out a research stay at the Gino Germani Institute of the University of Buenos Aires. Her main lines of research are urban studies and feminist theory and criticism. She is the author of several publications and collaborates with different media.

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Alberto Riesco Sánz (GRESCO)

albertoriesco@ucm.es

Alberto Riesco Sanz holds a PhD in Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid with a thesis on the so-called "ethnic economies" and the incorporation into the labour market of the immigrant population (Extraordinary Doctorate Award, 2009-2010). He is currently Associate Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies at the UCM, although he has previously worked as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Salamanca, the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Spanish National Research Council. He has also been a visiting researcher at the University of California at Davis (USA), the Université Paris-Ouest (France) and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium).

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José Antonio Santiago García (GRESCO)

jasantia@cps.ucm.es

José Santiago is a Professor of Sociology at the UCM and holds a PhD in Political Science and Sociology. He is a member of the TRANSOC Institute and has been a visiting researcher at several higher education institutions in France (ENS-CMH; Paris Descartes-CERLIS; EHESS-CADIS; Paris VII-LCS) and Canada (UQAM; UdeM). He is currently researching on individualisation, sociologies of the individual, inequality and vulnerability. On this last topic, he coordinates the research project of the National Plan "New forms of socio-existential vulnerability, support and care in Spain", in which most of the members of GRESCO are working. His most recent books are "El desafío sociológico hoy. Individuo y retos sociales (with Danilo Martuccelli, CIS, in press)", and "Siete lecciones de sociología de la religión y del nacionalismo (Anthropos, 2015)".

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Matthew Lee Turnbough (GRESCO)

Matthew Lee Turnbough is a PhD student in Sociology and Anthropology at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and recipient of an FPU grant. He is a member of the Department of Applied Sociology, the Complutense Institute of Sociology for the Study of Contemporary Social Transformations (TRANSOC) and the Group of Contemporary Sociocultural Studies (GRESCO). As a researcher he is also linked to the project "Nuevas formas de vulnerabilidad socio-existencial, soportes y cuidados en España" (VULSOCU) Proyecto I+D+i de Retos de la Sociedad, directed by Jose Santiago. His main lines of research are individualisation processes, globalisation, sociologies of the individual, production of subjectivity and vulnerability.

Carlos Rivas Mangas (GRESCO)

Carlos Rivas Mangas es Ayudante en el Departamento de Sociología Aplicada de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) y miembro del grupo GRESCO. Realizó estudios en Sociología por la misma universidad y en Filosofía por la Universidad de Salamanca, concluyéndolos con sendos premios extraordinarios. Ha colaborado a menudo en procesos de mejora de la calidad del sistema universitario y se ha formado adicionalmente en el Instituto de Economía, Geografía y Demografía del CSIC (2019) y en el Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (2020), participando en proyectos sociológicos y geográficos sobre jóvenes y movilidad.

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Marta Domínguez Pérez (GISMAT)

martadom@cps.ucm.es

Marta Domínguez Pérez holds a PhD in Sociology and is a Professor of Urban Sociology as well as coordinator of the ERASMUS MUNDUS Master "4 cities" (UCM). Coordinator of the urban sociology working group of the FES. Director of the UCM journal "Society and childhoods" and of the master's degree in Social Policies of Childhood (UCM). She has published on the cultural dimensions of the city and integration, urban regeneration, socio-spatial segregation, public space, social inequality, urban identity and image, vulnerable groups, tourism, strategic planning, etc. She has directed the project funded by the Comunidad de Madrid VUPACI (Vulnerability, participation and citizenship) and currently has an R&D project on vulnerability and housing. She had previously worked in local government (1987-2002).

Daniel Sorando Ortín (GISMAT)

dsorando@ucm.es

Daniel Sorando Ortín holds a PhD in Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid (Extraordinary Doctorate Award), where he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Sociology. His research interests are social inequality in contemporary cities, residential segregation and gentrification processes. Co-author of "First we take Manhattan. The creative destruction of cities" together with Álvaro Ardura and author of several book chapters and scientific articles in different national and international publications. He has also worked for different public administrations in the study of youth's social situation.

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Pedro Uceda Navas (GISMAT)

puceda@ucm.es

Pedro Uceda Navas holds a PhD in Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid, where he is Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Sociology. He focuses his research on the Right to the City and processes of vulnerability in today's city, of which he has published and presented at national and international conferences. He has also carried out two stays and participated in research projects at the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) and at the UCM.

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Emilio Martínez Gutiérrez (GISMAT)

Emilio Martínez Gutiérrez holds a degree in Political Science and Sociology from the UCM and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Alicante. Professor of the Department of Sociology VI in the Faculty of Information Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid. During his professional career he has been a researcher for several institutions: University of Alicante, Ramón Margalef Multidisciplinary Institute of Environmental Studies, Université René Descartes (Paris V - Sorbonne), Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Centre Max Weber (Université de Lyon II). He wrote his doctoral thesis on the Urban Sociology of Henri Lefebvre, and his main lines of research have been organised around the Sociology of Space and the City.

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Andrés Walliser (GISMAT)

Andrés Walliser (GISMAT) is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Sociology (UCM). He is an Urban sociologist specialising in neighbourhood regeneration, urban design, social exclusion and public policies at the local level. He studied sociology at the UCM and was subsequently a fellow of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences of the Juan March Foundation, where he completed the Master's degree in political science and sociology taught at the CEACS. At the same centre he carried out the research for his doctoral thesis, Ciudad y Participación, which he read in 2002 at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, in the Department of Sociology. He has subsequently combined teaching at various Spanish and American universities with research and consultancy, first as a freelance and then as director of the City and Territory Area of the CIREM Foundation.

Javier Ruiz Sánchez

Javier Ruiz Sánchez (LoCUS)

PhD Architect - Department of Urban and Territorial Planning. ETSAM-UPM

Specialist in the complex and evolving nature of urban and territorial systems and landscape and the role of planning from that perspective, and the city as a space of conflict, inequality and difference, as well as planning for complexity and resilience in situations of uncertainty: crises, catastrophes and conflicts.

Álvaro Ardura Urquiaga

Álvaro Ardura Urquiaga (LoCUS)

Architect - Department of Urban and Territorial Planning. ETSAM-UPM

Lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (ETSAM) in the subject of Urban Project. He is a specialist in urban planning and urban regeneration, social justice with a special focus on gentrification processes and dynamics of access to housing. He has also collaborated in the development of major urban projects in Madrid.

Iñigo Lorente Riverola

Iñigo Lorente Riverola (LoCUS)

Architect - Department of Urban and Territorial Planning. ETSAM-UPM

His knowledge in the field of Geographic Information Systems and Big Data mining and visualisation applied to the analysis of geographic information, has made him part of multidisciplinary research teams that integrates both humanistic and technical profiles, with the aim of deepening the knowledge and implementation of digital technologies to spatial planning.

Inmaculada Mohíno Sanz

María Inmaculada Mohíno Sanz (LoCUS)

Doctora Ingeniera de Caminos, Canales y Puertos – Departamento de Urbanística y Ordenación del Territorio. ETSAM – UPM

inmaculada.mohino@upm.es

Specialist in Urban Design and Spatial Planning, Urban and Territorial Impacts of High Speed Rail, Metropolitan Dynamics, Mobility and Accessibility in Rural Regions, Pedestrian Mobility and Use of Public Space and Conservation of Historic Roads.

Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado (LoCUS)

PhD Architect with European Mention - Department of Urban and Territorial Planning. ETSAM - UPM

Her work as a planner and academic is focused on urban regeneration policies, paying particular attention to the Spanish and European Union frameworks, from a holistic perspective in which she integrates dimensions that she has explored in depth throughout her career: governance, climate change, mobility, gender perspective.

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Berta Gámez (LoCUS)

Berta Gámez (LoCUS) Graduated in 2019, she works in architecture, urban planning, architectural dissemination and urban governance. She continues to specialise in intermediate scale projects ranging from medium and large scale public facilities to the analysis and active management of dynamics of adaptation of public space in an inclusive and sustainable way.

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Paola Leenhouts González-Espejo

pleenhou@ucm.es

Paola Leenhouts holds a Bachelors' degree in Liberal Arts with a specialisation in human geography and anthropology from University College Roosevelt (The Netherlands) and graduated from the Erasmus Mundus 4Cities Master's Degree in 2019 with a paper on sub-Saharan migrations, informal economy and urban governance in Madrid (with an excellent mark). She has international work experience on local public policy at the European level. Currently, she works as a hired researcher in the COMURES-CM project. Her interests range from migration, technology and digital rights in the city, social movements and gender perspective in underground cultures.

José Ariza de la Cruz

jariza@ucm.es

José Ariza holds a degree in Sociology and Master's in Research Methodology in Social Sciences. He currently teaches Sociology and Habitability in the Interior Design degree at ESNE. He also works as a hired researcher in the COMURES project (Resilient communities, local roots and social networks in the global city) at UCM. He has worked on urban sociology projects and projects related to migrations.