Dr. Matthew James Lorenzen Martiny holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) and a Master’s degree in Regional Studies from the Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California (United States). He holds the rank of National Researcher Level I in the Sistema Nacional de Investigadoras e Investigadores (SNII).

He serves as a Full-Time Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology within the Division of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Iztapalapa. He previously worked as an Associate Researcher at the Territorial Studies Academic Unit-Oaxaca (Unidad Académica de Estudios Territoriales-Oaxaca, UAET) of the Institute of Geography at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

His research focuses on demographic and socioeconomic changes in rural areas, touristification and gentrification in peri-urban and rural areas, forest transition and governance of the commons, and mixed migration flows to and in transit through Mexico.