As a cultural anthropologist, I explore the dialectics of human and geological forces for the sustainability of volcanic cultures, through ethnographic analysis of the conjunction of ecological and cultural features of inhabited volcanoes. Especifically, I am interested in the socio-volcanic realities of the southern Andes and the connection between design and disaster risk to address security in rural territories. 

My doctoral research addresses post-eruption reoccupation in Chile as an anthropological phenomenon. To this end, I use the case of the Lonquimay volcano to investigate how the construction and friction of social imaginaries on volcanic risk and human-volcano relationships unfolds in these territories. This research seeks a better understanding of the cross-cutting relational nature of the factors, narratives and rationalities involved in disaster preparedness, social response during emergencies and the return of populations to their volcanic lands. These elements are central to then imagining novel ways of communicating disaster risk. 

I am currently developing the concept of "ethnovolcanology" based on my doctoral project on populated active volcanoes in the southern Andes (Chile). 

This research is under the supervision of Dr Nat O'Grady (HCRI) and Dr Aurora Fredriksen (SEED).

• Disaster risk studies
• Anthropology of inhabited volcanoes
• Ethnography of volcanic risk
• Cross-cultural risk communication
• Eruptions and Humanitarianism

• Geological Society of Chile
• Chilean College of Anthropologists
• Ibero-American Network for Research in Imaginaries and Representations
• Latin American Association of Volcanology
• European International Studies Association 

Co-researcher in FONDECYT Regular project N° 1221641 "Enabling factors for interscientific dialogue in coastal areas facing climate change. Case study in Arauco Province, Chile" (PI: Dr Noelia Carrasco, 2022-2025).

Member of the Organising Committee of the 1st Symposium on Chilean Volcanology, Coordinator Session 3 Volcanic risk and hazards

Email: francisca.vergarapinto@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk