DAAD-scholarship holder Javiera Machuca
Javiera Machuca is a Geographer and M.Sc. in Governance of Risks and Resources from Heidelberg University. Since October 2020 she has been part of the Department of Geography at the South Asia Institute, where she is pursuing her PhD on “Technological Hydroscapes in Chile: the introduction of large dams in socio-hydrological systems”. Since October 2021 she has held a DAAD scholarship for her doctoral studies.
Research Topics
Water Governance
Political Ecology
Human-Environment Interaction
Science Outreach
Chile, South America
Selected Publications
Pliscoff P, Zanetta N, Hepp J & Machuca J (2017): Efectos sobre la flora y vegetación del evento de precipitación extremo de agosto 2015 en Alto Patache, Desierto de Atacama, Chile. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande 68:91-10.
Selected Presentations
Machuca J & Nüsser M (2023): Technological Hydroscapes in Chile: a historical review of Large Dams. Royal Geographical Society-IBG Annual International Conference 2023. 30.08.2023, London, England.
Machuca J & Fragkou MC (2023): Evaluación de Mesas Territoriales de Agua en zonas de extrema escasez: Petorca, Chile. XII Congreso Ibérico de Gestión y Planificación del Agua. 27.01.2023. Murcia, Spain. https://publicaciones.um.es/publicaciones/public/obras/ficha.seam?numero=3003&edicion=1&cid=229
Other activities
On 20th October 2025 to 21st October 2025 workshop "Challenging Extractivism: Local Resistance Addressing Effects of Mining on Water and Food", co-organized by the HCIAS, Heidelberg University’s Institute of Geography, South Asia Institute (SAI), and Heidelberg Center for the Environment (HCE), brought together scholars and activists to critically examine the socio-environmental challenges posed by extractivism in the Andean context, while focusing on water governance, food security, and social resistance.
The special guests of this event included Prof. Dr. María C. Fragkou (University of Chile), Dr. Johanna Höhl (Research Associate and Coordinator of the GIST-Hub, Germany and Chile), Paula Klöcker (Research Associate at the Institut für Sozio-Ökologische Forschung, Germany), Prof. Dr. Klemens Laschefski (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil), Prof. Dr. Manuel Prieto (Universidad de Tarapacá, Chile), Prof. Dr. Anne Tittor (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany), and Andrea Vázquez (Spokesperson of the Coordination for the Defense of the Loa River and Mother Earth, Chile).
Doctoral Researcher
Department of Geography
South Asia Institute, Universität Heidelberg
Voßstraße 2, Building 4130
D-69115 Heidelberg
Room: 130.03.14
Tel: +49 6221 54-15247
Email: javiera.machuca@stud.uni-heidelberg.de