The Center for Studies of Conflict and Social Cohesion (COES), in partnership with the Julius Baer Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Inequality, the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, and Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE), hosted the Future of Social Mobility conference in Santiago, Chile on 3 – 4 December 2025.
The aim of the conference was to bring together cross-sector experts on wealth inequality to address the contemporary challenges of social mobility. Ten AFSEE Fellows presented their work alongside leading scholars on inequalities and social mobility experts from the public and private sector, NGOs, and philanthropic organisations. The conference featured a series of keynote lectures from Professor María José Álvarez, Dr Gautam Bhan, Professor Jody Agius Vallejo, Lady Marieme Jamme, and Professor Mike Savage from the LSE International Inequalities Institute.
It was wonderful to see the active participation of so many AFSEE Fellows in this conference hosted by our partners at COES. I thank Professor Maria Luisa Mendez (COES) for her vision and leadership, which was key in the organisation of this important conference.”Professor Armine Ishkanian, AFSEE Executive Director
During the conference, AFSEE Fellows Kunsang Tsephel (2024-25 Cohort), Solomon Atsuvia (2024-25 Cohort), Hobeth Martínez Carrillo (2019-20 Cohort), Dany Díaz Mejía (2024-25 Cohort), Juan David Velasco Montoya (2024-25 Cohort), and Fola Adeleke (2017-18 Cohort) spoke in panel sessions exploring topics such as how identity and community shape mobility opportunities; how global elites shape discourse and reproduce class divides; and the connection between mobility and spatial reproduction of inequality.
I enjoyed learning about the work of other AFSEE Fellows and making connections between the challenges of inequality in Latin America and parallel experiences in Africa. The conference reinforced that tackling inequality requires both local action and global cooperation—and reminded me how much we can learn from other contexts.”Fola Adeleke, AFSEE Senior Fellow (Cohort 2017-18)
The conference programme also included two AFSEE-led roundtables. The first, on “The Wellbeing of Social Mobility” brought together Carlos Brown Solá (2022-23 Cohort), Maria Carrasco (2020-21 Cohort), Sebastián Ignacio Muñoz Pérez (2022-23 Cohort). The second roundtable featured AFSEE Research Fellow Dr. Annalena Oppel and AFSEE Fellows Rosario Fassina (2022-23 Cohort), Hobeth Martínez Carrillo, and Juan-David Velasco Montoya, who discussed the challenges arising from philanthropic initiatives in Latin America.
It was a joy to provide AFSEE Fellows with this important platform. Seeing them in action—sharing their research, ideas, and projects—was genuinely inspiring. AFSEE’s impact is remarkable, and the Fellows are its clearest proof.”Professor María-Luisa Mendez, Director of the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES)
