Maryland Morant is a researcher in the Gandia Campus Research Group on Tourism Management of Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and professor in the Tourism Management undergraduate program on the Campus. She was recently given a research project by the State University of Milagro (Ecuador) on food safety in the tourism industry and the implementation of international standards. She has been working on various projects in the country of Ecuador for the last five years.Although she has a degree in law and ultimately worked in a law firm, her true passion led her to switch career paths: “I’ve been a staunch defender of nature and wildlife since I was little and I finally realized that the law was not for me.” After finishing a Master’s Degree in Tourism Management and obtaining a collaboration grant, she found research to be “very enriching, both personally and professionally, and I decided that this would be my career.”
For Maryland, the best part of her day-to-day is doing what she likes best, research, and sharing the results and her experiences with her students. But she cautions about the forced exile that many Spaniards researchers are forced into due to the cuts being made in R&D&I in recent years.
