Dr Maria Alejandra Pinero de Plaza is an NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the CRE in Frailty and Healthy Aging (Knowledge Translation [KT] Arm) and Flinders University. She investigates KT concerning technology and consumer engagement, with a focus on the co-creation, measurement and evaluation of the impact of participatory research products (e.g. policies, health systems changes, care, education, communication and interventions effects).

As an Associate Investigator, she was recently awarded an NHMRC Partnership Grant $1.2 million. She is investigating and contributing to the community and KT aspects of RAPIDX AI.

As a Chief Investigator, Dr Pinero has been awarded 2 Grants (by Flinders University and The Caring Futures Institute): an Accelerator Grant $4,000.00 (concerning the marginalization of Frail, Homebound and Bedridden people in Australia), and a Collaborative COVID-19 Grant $46,891.00 (Investigating the use of Digital Technologies within inpatients settings to improve the patient-clinician relationship).

She brings a multidisciplinary background in 1) health promotion, behaviour, and health (PhD [2017] investigating and predicting obesogenic environments and consumer dietary choices for the prevention of Non-communicable diseases). 2) consumer behaviour and marketing science (concerning computerised games testing consumers’ brand recognition, choice and memory accuracy). 3) anthropology postgraduate courses and 4) worked as a mass and science communicator. She holds a 5-year Licentiate degree plus 22 years’ experience in this area.

The academic insights that Dr Pinero de Plaza has developed as a consumer behaviour researcher now support the understanding of how shoppers make buying choices (around the world). She won an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Mars Inc. top-up scholarship grant for her consumer behaviour study in the packaging and the human decision-making field. Recently, she has been co-creating a new Arts in Health certification and an Alliance across Colleges.