UDP Internacional

Wednesday January 21st, 2026

On Monday, January 19, at the UDP Casa Central, and in the presence of various authorities, a partnership agreement was signed between the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Diego Portales University, formalising the University’s admission into the Swedish-Chilean ACCESS Network (Academic Collaboration Chile–Sweden).

The signing ceremony included the participation of Provost Cristóbal Marín, accompanied by the Vice President for Research and Innovation, Dr Maite de Cea, and Carlos Ahumada from the General Office of International Relations (DGRRII).

The delegation from Lund University—which currently coordinates the ACCESS network—was composed of Vice President Lena Eskilsson (Deputy Vice-Chancellor), Miguel Cornejo, and Pouneh Eftekhari, both Project Managers at the Swedish institution.

During the event, a presentation was held on the network’s strategic vision and on UDP’s participation opportunities. This session facilitated dialogue among directors and researchers from different faculties to explore research and academic collaboration opportunities within the ACCESS framework.

The participants from Diego Portales University included Maite de Cea and Camila Claps (Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation); Lorena Oróstica (Faculty of Medicine); Claudio Fuentes (Social Sciences Research Institute – ICSO); Felipe Alarcón (Institute of Philosophy); Carlos Ahumada (DGRRII); Christian Peake (Faculty of Education); Margarita Jans and Elizabeth Wagemann (Faculty of Architecture, Art, and Design); Jorge Saavedra (Faculty of Communication and Literature); Nieves León (Faculty of Law); Paula Jofré (Institute of Astrophysical Studies); María Paz Rodríguez (Faculty of Health and Dentistry); and Rodrigo Cáceres (Faculty of Engineering and Sciences).

Miguel Cornejo, Project Manager at Lund University, praised UDP’s incorporation into ACCESS: “We are here representing the coordination of the ACCESS network, and we are very happy that Diego Portales University is a new member of this network.” He also highlighted the recent ACCESS Forum in Concepción, which brought together 200 Chilean and Swedish researchers. “I believe today’s meeting was very fruitful (…) especially in the sense that we could present the process moving forward, the scientific and social challenges both countries face, and how to confront them in a united way using the expertise that exists in Chile and Sweden,” he noted.

Lena Eskilsson, Vice President of ACCESS, highlighted that the network has fostered collaboration between Swedish and Chilean universities for more than 10 years. “We believe it is an excellent opportunity for researchers from Chile and Sweden to meet. Both senior researchers and PhD students come together and work interdisciplinarily across different research areas,” she commented.

For Maite de Cea, UDP Vice President for Research and Innovation, joining the ACCESS programme is a strategic move that positions UDP within an international network of scientific and academic collaboration, strengthening its internationalisation and its integration into global research projects. “It demonstrates UDP’s commitment to academic networks that work toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global issues, integrating into a platform that has been connecting Chilean and Swedish institutions for a decade,” she mentioned.

The Swedish-Chilean ACCESS Network brings together universities from both countries to strengthen bilateral collaboration in teaching, research, innovation, and institutional development from an interdisciplinary perspective.

​In this context, the ACCESS Forum was recently held at the University of Concepción, where UDP participated through the DGRRII and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. During that event, several initiatives were agreed upon, most notably that the next forum will be held in June 2027 in Gothenburg, Sweden.