María Angélica Fellenberg Plaza

Vice President for Research

Heads the Office of the Vice President for Research

 Duties

Leads the Office of the Vice President for Research with the mission of bringing excellence to UC with first-rate research to contribute to the country and the world.
Some duties include: 

• Proposing PhD policies and approving or modifying the Colleges' academic programs. Likewise, establishing admissions, benefits and administration processes for said programs.
• Drawing up policies to support research, innovation, intellectual property, technology transfer and artistic creation.
• Ensuring the proper ethical and bioethical execution of research projects.
• Reviewing and approving agreements or associations with other universities.
• He is also the President of the UC Innovation Center Anacleto Angelini.

To learn more about the duties and functions of the Vice President for Research, read the Regulations of the Organizations that work with the Office of the President.

 Career

María Angélica Fellenberg earned both her undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Agricultural Sciences from UC Chile and holds a Master’s degree in Nutritional Sciences, with a specialization in healthy foods, from the University of Chile. 

She is a professor at the Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Systems, where she has built an outstanding career spanning more than 25 years. In 2023, she became the first woman to serve as Dean of the faculty in its 120-year history. 

Her academic and research work has focused on nutrition and food safety. She was co-director of IFAN, a public-private program dedicated to developing new functional ingredients and natural additives for Chile’s food industry. She also leads a FIC (Innovation Fund for Competitiveness) project in collaboration with farmers in the O'Higgins Region, aimed at promoting food safety and ensuring that food products do not pose a risk to human health. 

From 2020 to 2024, she served as president of the Advisory Council of the Copec-UC Chile Foundation.

She has served as Vice President for Research since 2025.