Clara is a multidisciplinary researcher at the School of Innovation Sciences. She has an academic background in international relations, economics of innovation, development economics and international development finance.

Clara is currently pursuing a PhD degree with a focus on economic impacts of the energy transition in developing countries. Her research relates to topics like energy policy and planning, green industrial policy, smart specialization, technology transfer, and climate policy. 

She was Chapter Scientist and Contributing Author to the chapter on "Innovation, Technology Development and Transfer" of the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernamental Pannel on Climate Change (IPCC) on climate change mitigation.

Before joining TU/e, she worked as a Junior Researcher in the group Macroeconomics & Innovation from the Department of Economics at PUC Minas, Brazil, and received a research scholarship from the Minas Gerais Research Support Foundation (FAPEMIG) to conduct research on the economic cooperation between China and Latin America. She also worked as a Research Assistant at the Center for Research on Peace and Development at KU Leuven (Belgium). 

Before joining academia, Clara had work experience in the private sector and international organizations. In Brazil, she worked as a Business Development Specialist at the Brazil-China Chamber of Business. After her Masters, she worked as a Junior Policy Advisor for the World Health Organization office at the European Union in Brussels. She joined the energy sector when she worked at the Commercial Regulated Department from Fluxys, the Belgian gas transmission system operator (TSO).