Nicolas Freire Castello is a Ph. D. in american studies from the University of Santiago. Freire also has a master’s with honors in Parliamentary Institutions from the Sapienza Università di Roma and graduated with honors in political science. He also has a diploma in Regional Integration from the University of Chile.
Nicolas is an academic at the Faculty of Economics, Government and Communications of the Central University of Chile, and director of the Observatory of Politics and Social Networks. He is also an academic of the diploma in political communication at the Anáhuac University in Mexico. He is currently participating in four international partners: The Korea Foundation in South Korea, Meridian International Center in the United States and Tec de Monterrey and Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico.
In the last 10 years he has combined university teaching, academic research and public and private consultancy; frequently participating in different print media, radio and television, as a panelist and analyst.

He has served as a parliamentary advisor in the Senate of the Republic of Chile and as a professor at various universities in Chile, Peru, Mexico and Italy. He has participated in workshops and given conferences for public and government institutions, such as the communications commission of the Constitutional Convention, the Electoral Service of Chile and the State Electoral Institute of Hidalgo, among others; as well as for international agencies like UNHCR and intergovernmental organizations such as Pacific Alliance and Joint Center for Peacekeeping Operations. 

IVLP Impact Award Project: School of Digital Citizenship

This project trained citizens in the communities of San Miguel, La Cisterna, and Pedro Aguirre Cerda to raise levels of media literacy by leading workshops about information access, data safety and how to identify digital misinformation. The training was structured and based on the institutional framework given by neighborhood councils. Unlike municipality or regional councils, neighborhood councils allowed for young people between the ages of 18 and 14 to actively participate through voting. By training presidents of the neighborhood councils and collaborating talks with neighbors, the project was able to reach a wide range of citizens.

The creation of the Digital Citizenship School reached 90 social leaders across the communities, 22 of which were then certified as digital citizenship monitors. After the project's success, many workshop resources were used as academic tools at the Universidad Central de Chile. After the project’s success, many workshop resources were used as academic tools at the Universidad Central de Chile.   

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Nicolas was a participant in the IVLP Project Identifying and Combating Disinformation to Promote Media organized by the U.S. Department of State and the Mississippi Consortium for International Development (MCID)

Nicolas' exchange experience led to the development of his IVLP Impact Award Project: "IVLP was a tremendously enriching experience for my personal and professional development."

U.S. Communities Visited Virtually 

San Diego, CA; Washington, DC; Tampa, FL; Chicago, IL

Country: Chile

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