Valeria Lentini holds a PhD Cum laude in Economics from the University of Zaragoza, an MA in Development Economics from the University of Sussex (British Council Scholarship), and a BA from the Universidad Nacional. She is currently an assistant professor and researcher at the University of Costa Rica. Besides her academic work, Valeria is currently a Policy Associate at J-PAL LAC where she supports the Gender and Economic Agency (GEA) in Central America, Colombia, and Mexico. Additionally, she is coordinator and researcher of the Higher Education chapter of the State of the Education (think tank) in Costa Rica. Valeria has more than two decades of experience as an analyst and team leader in research studies. She has designed, coordinated, and implemented qualitative projects (focus groups and in-depth interviews) and quantitative studies (ad-hoc surveys) for multiple public and private institutions, NGOs, academy, media, and international organizations throughout Latin America. In the past as Project Director and Regional Director of Development for Central America in the market research company, Unimer, and more recently as a consultant for UNDP, Inter-American Dialogue, European Union, National Council of Rectors, Economic Science Research Institute, among others.