KKStudent protests in Chile, social movements in Latin America and green start-ups in Europe: social scientist Camila Ponce investigates what motivates young people to become politically active – and how emotions, protest and innovation drive social change.
In the years just before and after the turn of the millennium, Chile’s education system underwent massive restructuring. The school and university systems were largely privatised, which meant that the majority of students had to take out private or government loans to finance their education. This ultimately led to large-scale protests by school and university students in 2011. The protests were mainly organised by student associations, but many other groups also expressed their dissatisfaction with the country’s education system.
These protests in Chile represented a major contradiction to the prevailing scholarly theories of the time, explains Camila Ponce, a project researcher at the Department of Society, Knowledge and Politics. “At the time, there was a strong belief that young people were not interested in politics. But the protests showed that young people do care about politics. And they express their views in a way that is widely visible,” says Camila Ponce. The protests that took place in her native Chile in 2011 long formed a central part of her research. She conducted more than 60 interviews with students and other individuals involved in these protests and used her publications to show how deeply young people are connected to politics.
She then continued her work with colleagues from other countries in Latin America. In 2017, she completed her PhD at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. For the next four years, she worked as a full professor at the Universidad Católica Cardenal Raúl Henríquez in Santiago, Chile. “I was used to living abroad. I missed that very much, so I decided to leave that position to discover another country.” Camila Ponce joined Philipps University of Marburg, where she continued her work on social movements, focusing on Chile and Tunisia. This was now accompanied by an ecological focus. “I was interested in how Latin America and North Africa deal with ecological problems such as extractivism, i.e. the mining and export of raw materials with little processing in the country of origin. In this context, I focused primarily on people who are trying to bring about social change by founding green start-ups.”
Since September 2025, Camila Ponce has been involved in the City Science Lab project at the University of Klagenfurt, conducting research and coordinating the project. The City Science Lab is based on an initiative by the city of Klagenfurt, the only Austrian city to participate in the EU mission “100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”. In order to achieve the climate targets, ambitious and financially costly projects are being implemented and planned, from the decarbonisation of the bus fleet to the expansion of green electricity supply. The University of Klagenfurt is supporting the city on its path to climate neutrality by drawing on expertise from a wide range of social, cultural, economic and technical sciences. In this project, Camila Ponce is particularly interested in start-ups that are striving to contribute to a climate-neutral city with their sustainable business ideas.
People seeking to contribute to a better world through their work are the common thread running through Camila Ponce’s academic career. When asked what they all have in common, she explains: “Emotions can be very powerful. When I realise that circumstances are making me angry or that the vision of a better world is arousing positive emotions, this often motivates me to take action. Because we are social beings, this often leads us to form groups or join existing ones.” Today, however, it is often not traditional parties that benefit from such movements, but rather: “The internet offers many people the space to connect with others and thus become visible. Prejudices against a supposedly idle Gen Z are not true: many young people today are more aware of the problems facing the world than others. They often notice what is wrong more quickly. At the same time, the dangers of manipulation through social media are greater than ever.”
How effective movements can be in the long term depends on many factors. “Gabriel Boric Font, who was president of the University of Chile Student Federation (Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile) in 2011 and a key figure in the student protests, will remain president of Chile until March this year. Movements often have their ups and downs. Sometimes they can rally more people to their cause, sometimes fewer.” For Camila Ponce, who greatly values the freedom to research and work in the academic world, the topics of research will continue to be plentiful, allowing her to explore the driving forces behind the commitment of people who are working to create a better world.
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A few words with … Camila Ponce Lara
When was the last time you discussed your research with someone outside the scientific community?
I try to share these conversations as much as possible, for example explaining to my 3-year-old daughter what research is, and that doctors aren’t only physicians – it’s a great challenge.
What is the first thing you do in the office each morning?
Have coffee and try to read something interesting before checking my emails.
Who do you regard as the greatest scientist in history, and why?
There are so many, but I’m very inspired by Marie Curie, who won 2 Nobel Prizes at a time when almost no women had access to science, and Hannah Arendt, who developed an exceptional career abroad but also profoundly shaped political thought through her ideas
What makes you furious?
Fake news and the lack of empathy when there is so much injustice in the world.
And what calms you down?
Meditating and scuba diving.
Do you take proper holidays? Without thinking about your work?
I try to go diving as much as I can, but it’s not always possible. I try to really disconnect, but sometimes it’s difficult.
What are you afraid of?
That there will be no turning back.
What are you looking forward to?
That we can build a better world.
Der Beitrag Young voices, political change: Camila Ponce Lara’s research on protest, activism and climate-driven start-ups erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.