Research and technology design in service of people
Social innovation, STEM initiatives and artificial intelligence connecting knowledge with social development and decent work.
Development and management for the public and private sectors.
Undergraduate and postgraduate research mentoring.
Initiatives connecting technology and social development.
AI projects addressing social and workplace challenges.
Gregorio Enrique Puello Socarrás holds a Master’s in Development Practice from Universidad de los Andes, a degree in Industrial Design from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and qualifications in Business Administration and Occupational Safety and Health Management from UNIMINUTO. His career connects design, research and project management with social innovation and working conditions.
He has been a research professor at UNIMINUTO since 2013 and at Universidad Militar Nueva Granada since 2025, in programs associated with occupational safety and health management. His undergraduate and postgraduate teaching spans design, advertising graphic production, marketing, occupational health administration, project management, educational management and OSH management.
He has advised more than 150 undergraduate and postgraduate degree projects, including projects receiving academic distinctions. He has also served as an examiner and peer reviewer and directed academic programs in advertising graphic production and occupational safety and health administration. This experience links research education with the design, development and assessment of applied proposals.
His research includes institutional projects on occupational safety and health in informal work, public engagement with knowledge, and coordination of teacher development projects in science, technology and innovation. His interests include STEM initiatives, ICT4ALL and projects integrating artificial intelligence for social development and decent work.
He has 26 years of experience developing and managing design projects in the public and private sectors. His work includes independent design and consulting, furniture oversight, and workplace and ergonomics research for Bogotá’s district education authority. This background brings a perspective focused on people, contexts of use and actual working environments.
He is also certified in social innovation management by UNIMINUTO’s Parque Científico de Innovación Social, has mentored entrepreneurship at Universidad de los Andes, and undertook Erasmus teaching mobility at Medical University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 2022. His academic output includes books, articles, conference contributions and intellectual property registrations. His learning perspective connects research, technology and design with concrete social and workplace challenges.
His university experience also includes FUCS, UNITEC, Universitaria Virtual Internacional, FABA–UDES and Areandina. At FABA–UDES he combined teaching in animation, multimedia, digital modeling and packaging with program direction and leadership of the Responsible Social Design line. At Universitaria Virtual Internacional he taught research and served as acting coordinator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration program.
At UNIMINUTO his career includes research leadership in occupational safety and health administration and work with SST-IN. In 2015 he coordinated component 3 of a large-scale science, technology and innovation education project and strengthening of Ondas. Earlier he participated in Areandina’s research group on the Millennium Development Goals for Cesar, La Guajira and Magdalena.
His recent research examines work mediated by digital platforms: working conditions and psychosocial risks among bicycle delivery workers, new information and communication technologies, and AI-supported digital control projects. This line connects with Jappi, wearable initiatives and Cappi-Bot, bringing together technology development, worker participation and risk prevention.
As co-author of books on social innovation for decent work and productivity improvement in small businesses, he examines management, sustainability and working conditions. His articles, chapters and conference contributions also explore intellectual property, audiovisual co-creation, mixed reality, risk education and socio-environmental dynamics, connecting research with organizational and community problems.
His perspective on research, technology and their contribution to society.
January 2025 – present
Teaching in administration, entrepreneurship and research seminars, connecting management, entrepreneurship and research education.
Since January 2013 · present
Sixteen years of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching experience, including research, strategic management, project formulation and evaluation, knowledge and technology. Research leader for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration program since 2018, with involvement in SST-IN since 2017. Earlier work included marketing, business plans and inclusive teaching innovations.
January 2023 – June 2024
University appointment at an institution specializing in health sciences, as part of his interdisciplinary professional career.
September 2020 – July 2021
Tutor for Research Seminar I and research professor, supporting research formulation and development.
February 2019 – December 2020
Taught technology tools for research, applied research and methodology in virtual learning environments. Served as acting coordinator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration program in 2020.
February – June 2015
Coordinated a component of a large-scale science, technology and innovation education project for public-school communities and strengthening of the Ondas program.
2014
Training experience in multimedia design and integration, entrepreneurship and innovation in multimedia projects.
August 2013 – May 2019
Taught 2D and 3D animation, multimedia and web, packaging, digital modeling and research-creation. Directed the Advertising Graphic Design and Advertising Graphic Production programs from August 2016 to September 2017; led the Responsible Social Design research line and served on a council.
August 2011 – November 2012
Taught basic design, perspective and technical drawing. Research activity in a student research group on the Millennium Development Goals for Cesar, La Guajira and Magdalena during 2012.
June 2007 – November 2008
Furniture oversight and experience in workplace and ergonomics research, connecting design and conditions of use.
Development and management in the public and private sectors, including independent design and consulting from his early professional experience.
Experience as General Manager, complementing his academic, design and project management career.
Occupational safety and health consulting, project management and workplace analysis. Additional training in ISO 45001:2018. His training experience also includes work with SENA in 2014.
A research line connecting actual working conditions with the development of tools for risk prevention.
The problemUnderstand psychosocial risk factors among informal bicycle delivery workers using digital platforms.
The research pathExploratory studies in 2021–2022; ICT design in 2022–2024; AI-based digital control since 2024; wearable and Cappi-Bot projects in 2025–2026.
The learning connectionExamine how a workplace problem becomes a research question and then design criteria, prototypes and evaluation.
Initiative management and public engagement with knowledge.
Research and development of science and technology initiatives.
Projects connecting artificial intelligence and decent work.
Research and education with a focus on informal work.
Workplace analysis and design project development.
Advising, assessment and mentoring of degree projects.
Universidad de los Andes · 2014–2016
UNIMINUTO · 2018
UNIMINUTO · 2019–2022
Universidad Nacional de Colombia · 2003
Admitted in 2026 to the master’s program in Global Inclusion and Social Development at University of Massachusetts Boston.
Additional training: generative AI teaching and learning in higher education (Arizona State University, 2026); social impact analysis and nonprofit fundraising (Acumen, 2025–2026); entrepreneurship mentor certification (Universidad de los Andes, 2023); territorial public engagement with knowledge (UNIMINUTO, 2024); ISO 45001:2018 (Consejo Colombiano de Seguridad, 2021).
AI-supported collaborative workstation prototype
Project started in February 2026 to establish technical and regulatory foundations for a prototype addressing safety and productivity among informal platform workers. It aims to establish the foundations of a TRL3 prototype.
Research, development and innovation
Project running from August 2025 to May 2026 focused on monitoring psychosocial risk factors through a participatory approach addressing fatigue, stress and actual working conditions.
Project C124-200-6644 · since November 2024
Research testing scalable pilots of technology developed in an earlier phase for psychosocial risk management among informal platform workers. It seeks to progress from TRL3 toward TRL5.
Research-creation · CTC22-P10
Design of information and communication technology informed by findings on informal work and psychosocial risks. This project preceded the later AI-based digital control research.
Research and development
Exploratory research on psychosocial conditions and risk factors among bicycle delivery workers in major Colombian cities. Includes joint UNIMINUTO–Fundación Universitaria San Martín research on workers in digital collaborative economies.
Research-creation · PCM
Development of research-creation strategies for community production, addressing social problems through graphic design and communication.
Research and development
ICT and virtual learning tools for hazard identification and risk assessment in agricultural organizations in the Bogotá savanna.
Research-creation and outreach
Co-creation of audiovisual educational tools addressing violence against women in school communities in Soacha. The work led to a publication in DAYA in 2020.
A selection of books, articles, chapters and conference papers reflecting the breadth of his research.
Conference paper · ACDSA · IEEE Xplore
View CvLAC record ↗Workshop proceedings paper · CEUR Workshop Proceedings · 4290
View CvLAC record ↗Article · Revista Cubana de Salud y Trabajo
View CvLAC record ↗Article · Revista Iberoamericana de Estudios Municipales
View publication ↗Article · I+Diseño · 18
View publication ↗Article · Revista Cubana de Salud y Trabajo
View CvLAC record ↗Conference paper · IEEE GHTC
View CvLAC record ↗Book chapter · Educación para la globalidad: experiencias de internacionalización
View CvLAC record ↗Research book · co-author · UNIMINUTO · ISBN 978-958-763-554-6
View CvLAC record ↗Article · International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change
View publication ↗Article · co-author · Leather and Footwear Journal
View publication ↗Book chapter · co-author · Chapter in an edited volume
View CvLAC record ↗Research book · co-author · UNIMINUTO · ISBN 978-958-763-404-4
View CvLAC record ↗Article · co-author · DAYA · 9
View publication ↗Conference paper · co-author · ICERI · pp. 8495–8503
View CvLAC record ↗Article · co-author · Revista Cubana de Educación Médica Superior
View CvLAC record ↗Book chapter · El emprendimiento social y la innovación como motor del crecimiento empresarial
View CvLAC record ↗Explore full career and output on CvLAC ↗ · Google Scholar ↗ · ORCID ↗
Connecting a technology idea with the people it aims to serve requires research, judgment and contextual understanding.
A perspective combining design, management, research and occupational safety and health.
Which social problem calls for a technological solution, and how can it be defined before selecting a tool?
How can an AI proposal be assessed in light of people and their working conditions?
How can a community need become a feasible research question?
How can users’ experience inform project development?
What evidence can help assess an initiative’s social contribution?
His experience relates closely to the themes of the program below.
Back to FacultyProduction systems and operations: a thematic connection with design, ergonomics and working conditions.
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