Clarissa is a Molecular Biologist (PhD) and the founder/director of an organization that focuses on offering free educational programs for professional development to Latin-American students (www.ekpapalek.com). Ekpapalek's programs include professional mentorships, women empowerment, empowerment in indigenous languages among other tools such as a YouTube channel and a blog. Currently, she works at the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA) from the Ministry of Environment of Peru where she develops initiatives that promote citizens engagement and female participation during OEFA's environmental monitoring.

As a scientist, she has more than 13 years of experience in conducting and planning multilateral research projects and have taught at the University of Queensland. As a committee member at the life-sciences chapter of Women in Technology in Australia, she promoted and organized events for reducing the gender gap in science. Moreover, thanks to her work as director of Ekpapalek, she has become a UNESCO delegate during the week for Education in sustainable development and global citizenship in Canada, an emerging leader at the Atlantic Dialogues in Morocco and a UN Women Champion for Change.

During the next months, she will be attending OpenCon: Next Generation to advance open access, open education and open data (Germany) and also the Asian Forum on Global Governance (India). Her main interests are science diplomacy and science policy making.