As an official presentation for the lab-conglomerate Cibersomosaguas to which Prof. Elisa Garcia-Mingo –and by extension the fellow– belongs to, as well as a public seminar for Master’s Students within the Sociology programs of ‘Applied Sociology: Social Issues’ and ‘Research Methodology in Social Sciences’, LV gave a presentation at UCM on October 22nd, 2025 about the SMART project.
The seminar was framed to discuss the original proposal and how it had to be adapted in its process of implementation to the real contexts of NYC Area High Schools. Researchers from Cibersomosaguas and MSc Students were really interested in the project and posed numerous and interesting comments and questions. Some discussion was held around motivation biases to take into account during intervention studies, ethics for research, and how to properly implement the social justice component in a research project (including the short and long term benefits that projects leave in the participating subjects and environments).
A selection of SMART participating students’ final projects were also shown during the presentation and appreciated by the audience. Reflections about truly interdisciplinary careers and projects were held as well, and ideas for future implementation and follow-up project ideas were also exposed and gathered.
It was exciting to present to a sociology-focused audience with other interests and expertise, and yet another confirmation of the novelty and importance of our research.
Social Media Artistic tRaining in Teenagers (SMART) 