Dennis Lucy Avilés Irahola was born in Bolivia and obtained her Doctoral degree on Development Studies in Bonn, Germany. Her academic education and more than 13 years of work experience include agricultural, environmental and political sciences and gender studies. Currently, she works as an independent consultant on rural development, gender mainstreaming and social impact assessment in development projects for Latin America. She has related experience in Asia, Africa and Europe.

During the last years, she has worked for international and national agricultural and environmental agencies and gave several presentations for governmental, non-governmental and academic organizations in Germany. She is Associate Researcher in the Research Network for Latin America of the University of Bonn – Germany, Member of the International Center for Women in Bonn (IFZ), and Member of Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and NRM (WOCAN).