The Doctoral Studies Support Program (DSSP) is pleased to announce that three doctoral research projects carried out by program fellows and submitted to the National University of Colombia (UNAL) have been awarded the laureate distinction in 2025.
The laureate distinction — the highest academic recognition granted to a doctoral dissertation — confirms the rigor, innovation, and significant contributions to knowledge present in the research of Carolina Saldarriaga, María Camila Montalvo, and Fernanda Barbosa. Their dissertations explore, through transdisciplinary approaches, the intersections between architecture, territory, and emotions; journalism, armed conflict, and memory studies; and anthropology, art, and environmental studies.
These investigations also engage deeply with themes rooted in Colombia’s territorial, cultural, and political realities. They contribute to a dialogue of knowledge that extends beyond academia, grounded in relationships with historically marginalized communities and non-hegemonic knowledge practices.
In “Territorial Expressions of Grief in the Lower Atrato: Why Are Emotions Important for Territory?” Carolina Saldarriaga invites readers to rethink territories as bodies wounded by multiple forms of violence that require healing. “Recognising territorial pain is the first step toward transforming it,” she states in her dissertation, submitted to the PhD in Urban and Territorial Studies at the Faculty of Architecture, Medellín campus. Her research was conducted in four locations: Carmen del Darién, Marriaga, Triganá, and Santa María la Antigua del Darién. The methodology included “navigating, walking, rolling, and flying” through these territories, along with cartographic exercises examining music, memory, and imagination. Through territorial recognition, the identification of emotions, and the visibility of Territorial Expressions of Grief, she developed an Atlas — a guide that, through the lens of grief, reveals a system of relationships between territories and the collective emotions expressed within them, relationships that are not immediately apparent.
“Working with the Earth: Curatorial Proposals from Indigenous Material Practices for Living-with the Earth” is the doctoral thesis of María Camila Montalvo. It explores material practices developed with Indigenous collectives from Colombia’s Orinoquía and Amazon regions to analyse how their ways of making shape modes of inhabiting the planet and foster relationships between humans and non-humans. “By moving beyond traditional exhibition spaces, this research proposes a curatorial practice grounded in encounters and lived experiences, where material practices serve as a means to interpret, raise awareness, and envision alternatives to global crises such as climate change,” writes María Camila in the dissertation, submitted to the PhD in Anthropology at UNAL’s Faculty of Human Sciences. Her methodology centers on participatory action research and multi-sited ethnography, and the results highlight the fundamental role of Indigenous women in practices that sustain life.
In “Curators of Memories: Pathways Toward Transformative Journalism on the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Fernanda Barbosa begins from her situated experience as a journalist, noticing that the work of the media outlet Rutas del Conflicto challenged many of the journalistic norms she had previously known. “In a context of conflict transition, the outlet has prioritized memories that are scarcely visible — or not visible at all — in mainstream press, opening pathways toward transforming the relationships between journalists and stories, sources, and audiences,” the dissertation explains. Submitted to the PhD in Human and Social Sciences at UNAL, Fernanda’s research proposes that journalism can serve as a method of social inquiry. She presents a polyphonic account that defines the outlet’s journalists as curators of memories in four ways: they cure because they select and construct narratives; they cure because they care for memories; they cure because they pickle — or preserve — times, spaces, and experiences; and finally, they cure because they carry a healing intention.
DSSP celebrates the achievements of these researchers and their contributions, which open pathways for imagining and building possible futures through dialogue between academia, community practices, territories, and transformative memory work.