Cristóbal Castro Barrientos

Cristóbal Castro Barrientos is a Chilean researcher specializing in higher education, labor markets, and public policy. He is currently pursuing a PhD in economics at the New Zealand Policy Research Institute at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). His research focuses on gender wage gaps and the returns to higher education in New Zealand. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA), Chile.

With over a decade of experience in higher education public policy, he has primarily worked advising universities on improvement strategies and positioning in international rankings. He has also been a lecturer and has published research on gender equity, university funding, and access to tertiary education. Additionally, he has contributed to impact evaluation studies on labor policies and social security programs.