Paola is a Colombian peace advocate with a strong commitment to human rights. Her research focuses on the socioeconomic impacts of extractive industries, agribusiness, land conflicts, and development policy in Latin America. Her most recent work examines the impact of mechanized mining on violence in Colombia, emphasizing the roles of armed conflict and ethnic mining communities.
Paola has worked as a research assistant for the Ottawa Applied Microeconomics Lab. Her work integrates mixed methods, econometrics, spatial data analysis, and policy evaluation to address critical challenges in the Global South.
She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Ottawa, specializing in development and environmental economics, and a master’s in economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she received the Jesús Silva Herzog Prize for her research on inequality and development policies in Latin America.