Dr. Paola Arias earned her Ph.D. in Science mention in Physics at the University of Santiago de Chile. Subsequently, she held a postdoctoral positions through a Humboldt Fellowship at DESY, Hamburg, and subsequently, at PUC. Formerly an Assistant Professor at the University of Santiago de Chile, she served as Director of the MSc in Physics program and Vicedean of Research and Graduate Affairs at the Faculty of Science from 2021 to 2023. Currently, she is Assistant Professor at Universidad San Sebastian since October 2023

Experience in teaching undergraduate physics courses, including quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and general physics. Experience in teaching graduate-level courses, such as Quantum Field Theory, Introduction to Cosmology, and Particle Physics.

Paola Arias works in particle physics. She has focused on developing extensions of the standard model and recently, on models featuring candidates for dark matter. More specifically, constructing models with light particles, such as axions, axion-like particles, and hidden photons. She has also some experience working with heavier candidates, such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). Her emphasis is on the phenomenology of these models, the interplay with cosmology and how to search for signals of their existence (or place constraints on their parameter spaces) based on astrophysical, cosmological and laboratory observations.