María

Mancilla García

PhD

Researcher

+46 8-16 4920

Profile summary

  • Process-relational perspectives
  • Causality
  • Citizen participation
  • Water Governance
  • Coastal communities
  • Network analysis
  • Forum theatre

Maria Mancilla-García’s research focuses on relationality in social-ecological systems, including network analysis and theoretical work on the concepts of intertwinedness and dynamism

Mancilla-García is currently working on two research projects. One of these projects focuses on analysing and comparing different approaches to causality in sustainability studies and beyond. This collaborative project brings together several research perspectives from sociology, philosophy and ecology and is led by Maja Schlüter. Mancilla-García specifically will work on bringing a process-relational perspective to the analysis of causal relations in social-ecological systems.

The second project, that Mancilla-García is leading, investigates how coastal communities in Kenya and Mozambique deal with interlinked economic political and climate related challenges. This project uses community theatre to explore social-ecological relations and to what extent they enhance or hinder communities’ wellbeing.

Mancilla-García holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Oxford. She also obtained a Master of Research from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris, France) and, a Bachelor and Master degree from the Institute of Political Studies of Paris (Sciences-Po Paris). During her studies in Paris, she also followed philosophy courses at the University of Paris 1, La Sorbonne. She has worked on polycentric water governance arrangements in Latin America (Bolivia, Peru and Brazil) and Africa (Burkina Faso). She first joined the SRC in 2015 with a Marie Curie Post-doctoral scholarship to work with Örjan Bodin on a network analysis of participation dynamics in water basin councils. She then joined the SES-Link group led by Maja Schlüter to work on process and relational perspectives.

In addition to the SRC, Mancilla-García, is also affiliated with the Research Group on Territorial Systems and Structures at the University of Seville (Spain) as an associate researcher.

Publications by Mancilla García, Maria