Dr. Maria Rodriguez was born and raised in Venezuela and emigrated to Canada 26 years ago. After living in Quebec and Ontario, she has called PEI home for the past ten years. Maria recently retired after twenty years with the federal public service, where she held a variety of responsibilities, most recently with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as Manager, Science Policy and Partnerships. She has many years of experience in science-based policy analysis, participatory processes, and partnership development, nationally and internationally, and is a strong advocate for inclusive decision-making processes and the need to create spaces and build capacity for active citizen engagement. Maria holds an agriculture engineering degree from the Central University of Venezuela and a PhD from McGill University, Montreal.
