Mariajose Silva-Vargas

Mariajose Silva-Vargas is a Bolivian development economist. She works as a Senior Research and Policy Manager at J-PAL Europe and Associated Researcher at LISER (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research). She works at the intersection of research, public policy, and science communication.

Her research focuses on experimental evidence on the socioeconomic integration of refugees and women in male-dominated sectors, with projects in Luxembourg, Senegal, and Uganda. On the policy side, she works with several partners to support and develop Policy Innovation Labs, with a particular focus on LISER and the Central Bank of Armenia.

Previously, she was a Robert S. McNamara Fellow at DIME, World Bank, and managed impact evaluations for IPA and the World Bank in Uganda and Tanzania.

She also uses photography to communicate science, producing photo documentaries of research across Bolivia, Uganda, Finland, and France, with work published in Photo Vogue and exhibited at Fotografiska, in Paris and Luxembourg. Mariajose has also contributed to several visual storytelling projects at J-PAL Europe, including the Finland Photo Story and the WWF Photo Story.

She holds a PhD in Economics from Maastricht University, in collaboration with the IIES at Stockholm University, and completed a visiting period at Northwestern University's GPRL. She is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian, and has advanced proficiency in French.