Losner Briones

¡Hola!

I am Losner Briones, a doctoral researcher in the philosophy of the social sciences at the Department of Logic, History and Philosophy of Science at UNED, in Madrid. I am currently pursuing my PhD as an FPI [Formación de Personal Investigador] fellow within the research project Evidence and Mechanisms in the Social Sciences (EVISOC), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. I am also involved in the projects New Approaches to Evidence: Theoretical and Practical Developments (NATE) and Data Modelling and the Problem of Ambiguity of Experimental Results (ModAmbEx), likewise funded by the Ministry. In addition, I am a member of the METIS research group in philosophy, based at UNED.

My primary research focuses on issues of measurement, evidence, and construct validity as they bear on causal inference and evaluation in experimental studies of redistributive policy interventions. More broadly, I address epistemological and methodological questions concerning evidence-based approaches in the social and health-regulatory sciences. A notably focus is causal extrapolation.

This research currently follows two main lines, with particular attention to cash transfer experiments. One strand investigates whether, and to what extent, the Stable Unit Treatment Value Assumption (SUTVA) underpinning randomised field experiments limits the assessment of spillover effects at the community level. In parallel, the other investigates how mixed-methods research designs, drawing on Evidential Pluralism, support causal claims about the effectiveness of basic income schemes.

Here you can find my CV.

If you would like to get in touch, you can email me to losner [dot] briones [at] fsof [dot] uned [dot] es

Latest news:

• Accepted for presentation at the 4th Lake Como INEM Summer School in Philosophy of Economics, the 12th European Congress of Analytic Philosophy, and the 2026 Conference of the European Network for the Philosophy of Social Sciences!

• Currently undertaking a three-month research stay (March-May) at the TINT – Centre for Philosophy of Social Science (Helsinki, Finland), under the supervision of Jaakko Kuorikoski. From June to September, I will continue with a second three-month stay at the Valencia Philosophy Lab (Valencia, Spain), hosted by Saúl Pérez-González.

• I am co-organising the XIV Research Workshop on Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences (PBCS), hosted by UNED in Madrid, Spain, on June 18–19, 2026.

• During the 2025–2026 academic year, I will be co-teaching (with María Jiménez-Buedo) Philosophy of Science I and Philosophy of the Social Sciences for undergraduate students at UNED.