María joined the Young Lives team as a Quantitative Research Assistant in July 2020. She holds a degree in Sociology from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and an MSc in Social Policy and Social Research at UCL Institute of Education. Her MSc dissertation explored maternal employment and the use of maternity leave policies in Chile. 

Before joining Young Lives, María worked as a research associate for the Centre of Early Childhood Studies (CEPI) in Chile, where she collaborated on several research and evaluation projects of educational and social policies in Chile. She was also involved in a research project funded by the Chilean government that assessed the long-term effects of attending the country's early childhood  public education system on academic achievement and social development during adolescence. Prior to that, María worked in the Centre for Comparative Educational Policies (CPCE) at Diego Portales University in Chile, where she worked in the monitoring and evaluation of Un Buen Comienzo, a preschool teacher training programme in vulnerable schools implemented by Harvard University and Fundación Oportunidad.  

Her research interests are related to the topics of early childhood education, family, work-life balance and how evidence informs policymaking decisions.