María José Araya, PhD

Architect and PhD in Architecture, academic and researcher at Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, UVic – UCC. Her field of research focuses on the psychological, cognitive and biological bases of the architectural experience, with the aim of contributing to the integral well-being of human beings, through the codification of their relationship with the built environment. From evidence-based design, a systemic view, ergonomics and the principles of neuroarchitecture. In this same line, she has developed various public and private research projects, has participated in several international congresses and has published important scientific papers on the subject.

She is currently a researcher in the Decoding Well-Being line at Elisava Research, co-director of the master’s degree in Design for One Health and an academic at the same institution. At the same time, she works as an architect at maLeon Arquitectura, Diseño e Investigación and is a collaborating architect at TEMA Studio.

María holds a PhD Cum Laude in Architecture from the International University of Catalonia + Elisava (2021), a Master in Design from the Politecnico di Milano (2012), Architect from the University of Santiago de Chile (2006), and Ergonomist from the same institution. She has a long academic experience in Chilean Universities, mainly at the University of Santiago de Chile and Diego Portales University, and since 2006 she has developed as an independent Architect, collaborating with several studios in Chile, Italy and Spain.