Magdalena is a design researcher who received an MA degree in Integrated Design by the Köln International School of Design in 2012 and held a degree in Industrial Design from Universidad de Chile (2007). She is currently part of the academic staff of the Design Department at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU), Universidad de Chile where is part of the research group "Identity and Heritage". In this line of work, she coordinated the project "Design and innovation for traditional knowledge" financed by the outreach vice-chancellor from Universidad de Chile (2013-2014) and FAU (2015), and collaborated with the employability program from Fundación Artesanías de Chile (2015). Since 2013, she has been lecturer and tutor for the Industrial Design Seminar and Design Project courses at the same school and has presented her work at local and international conferences including Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Argentina. 

Magdalena is currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland where is completing her PhD (2016-2019) at Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh.  Her the research aims to elucidate the relationship between craftspeople and designers in the Chilean context, seeking to identify and critically analyse the cultural implications of it. It also attempts to raise a critical debate concerning the ethical framework of these partnerships, addressing the notion of "value" for craft and design and how it echoes into the dichotomies between thinking/making and innovation/tradition.