Tomás Usón
Postal address
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Department of Geography
Geography of Gender in Human-Environment Systems
Unter den Linden 6
10099 Berlin
Office location
Rudower Chaussee 16, 12489 Berlin, R 3‘102
Open office hour
As per appointment
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Curriculum Vitae
Tomás Usón is a postdoc researcher at the GeoGender Lab – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. With a background in sociology, geography, and anthropology, his research interests range from disaster and risk studies to multispecies research, urban studies, science and technology studies (STS), and anthropology of time.
Tomás completed his doctoral work at the Institute of European Ethnology and IRI THESys from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In his dissertation, he addressed the complex entanglements between disasters and time by investigating memory and anticipation practices related to socioenvironmental disasters in the Peruvian Andes.
Previously, he worked on various research projects at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Heidelberg University, exploring water conflicts from a political ecology perspective, climate change and land use scenarios, and volunteer geographic information for flood risk assessment.
As a postdoc researcher at the BUA project ‘Re-Scaling Global Health: Human Health and Multispecies Cohabitation on an Urban Planet’ (ReHealth), Tomás explores the intricate geo-symbiotic interactions between bacteria, heavy metals, and humans in highly polluted environments. By engaging in diverse case studies globally, including the Santa River Basin in Peru and the Mar Menor in Murcia, Spain, he aims to contribute novel understandings of health from a multispecies perspective.
Please get in touch with Tomás via email or find him on Academia, Research Gate, and Twitter. -
Qualifications
2023. Dissertation submission and defense at the Institute of European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, DE.
2014. M.Sc. in Governance of Risks and Resources, Heidelberg University, DE.
2014. Master in Geography and Geomatics, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
2011. Professional degree in Sociology, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. -
Academic Positions
2020. Research advisor, UTEC Peru, 'PEGASUS: Producing Energy and Preventing Hazards from Surface Water Storage in Peru.'
2014 - 2017. Research associate, Institute of Geography at Heidelberg University, 'Neogeography of a Digital Earth: Geoinformation Science as Methodological Bridge in Interdisciplinary Natural Hazard Analysis (NEOHAZ).'
2013 - 2014. Research associate, Global Change Center and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, 'MAPA: Maipo's Adaptation Plan.' -
Fellowships, Grants and Awards
2019 - 2023. Doctoral scholarship program, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, DE.
2013. DAAD Internship, Heidelberg University, DE.
2012 - 2013. DAAD Scholarship for the accomplishment of the M.Sc. program, Heidelberg University, DE.
2009 - 2010. Baden-Württemberg Scholarship for academic exchange program, Konstanz University, DE. -
Publications (selection)
Peer-reviewed articles
Usón, T.J. & Stehrenberger, C.S. 2021. A Temporal Device: Disasters and the Articulation of (De)Acceleration in and beyond 1970 Ancash’s Earthquake. Res Publica, 24(3), pp. 467-480. DOI: 10.5209/rpub.79245.
Henríquez-Dole, L., Usón, T.J., Vicuña, S., Henríquez, C., Gironás, J., Meza, F. 2018. Integrating Strategic Land Use Planning in the Construction of Future Land Use Scenarios and its Performance: The Maipo River Basin, Chile. Land Use Policy, 78, pp. 353-366. DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.06.045.
Klonner, C., Usón, T.J., Marx, S., Mocnik, F.B., Höfle, B. 2018. Capturing Flood Risk Perception via Sketch Maps. International Journal of Geographic Information, 7 (359), DOI: 10.3390/ijgi7090359.
Usón, T.J., Dame, J., Henríquez, C. 2017. Disputed Water: Competing Knowledge and Power Asymmetries in the Yali Alto Basin, Chile. Geoforum, 85, pp. 247-258. DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.07.029.
Usón, T.J., Klonner, C., Höfle, B. 2016. Using Participatory Geographic Approaches for Urban Flood Risk in Santiago de Chile: Insights from a Governance Analysis. Environmental Science & Policy, 66, pp. 62-72. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2016.08.002.
Klonner, C., Marx, S., Usón, T., De Albuquerque, J.P., Höfle, B. 2016. Volunteered Geo-graphic Information in Natural Hazard Analysis: A Systematic Literature Review of Current Approaches with Focus on Preparedness. International Journal of Geographic Information, 5 (7), 103. DOI: 10.3390/ijgi5070103.
Book chapters
Usón, T.J. 2021. Memory Regimes and the Anthropocene: Tracing Causes and Responsibilities under Flood Risk Scenarios in Ancash, Peru. In Réka Patrícia Gál & Petra Löffler (eds.) Earth and Beyond in Tumultuous Times: A Critical Atlas of the Anthropocenes. Lüneburg: Meson Press, 49-71.
Usón, T. & Henríquez, C. 2014. Cambio Climático en Zonas de Montaña: Incertidumbre y Escenarios en la Región Metropolitana. In Borsdorf, A., Sánchez, R., Hidalgo, R., Zunino, H.M. (eds.), Los Riesgos traen Oportunidades. Transformaciones Globales en los Andes Sudamericanos. Santiago, Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, pp. 71-88. -
Video recordings (selection)
2023. Presentation at Symposium “Spatial Figures in the Anthropocene” (English): https://www.ici-berlin.org/events/spatial-figures-in-the-anthropocene/.
2022. Presentation at series Mitwissenschaft from Humboldt Forum (German): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1hjKfTLqLU.
2021. Interview for the Output Magazine from the Wuppertal University (German): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvgxlQgUndA.