Ms Paula Calvo

PhD Student, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI)

Biography

Ms Paula Calvo is a PhD student with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), University of Queensland. She was born in Costa Rica, holds a Bachelor & Honours degree in Agricultural Science (University of Costa Rica), Diploma in Business Administration (Distance University of Costa Rica), and a MSc. in Vegetable Sciences (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile).

Her career has focused on postharvest management of agricultural products. She holds a current research scientist position at the Agronomics Research Centre of the University of Costa Rica, and has been involved in international cooperation with Mexico (Research Centre for Food and Development) and China (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences). She also has a strong interest in food policy and governance.

In 2014, Paula received an Australia Awards scholarship and travelled to Australia to conduct her PhD studies in biofortification of sweet-corn for human health.

As a PhD student, she has been granted several awards and recognition, including invitation as a guest presenter at the Gordon Carotenoid Conference (Italy, 2016), the Crawford Fund and UQ-Vice-Chancellor awards for her research abstract at the TropAg Conference (Brisbane, 2015), and the Howard Foundation best research abstract/best student oral presentation at the Macular Carotenoid Conference (Cambridge, UK, 2015).