Manuela Benavides, QUT Centre for a Waste Free World

Manuela Benavides is a PhD candidate with Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) School of Design and Centre for a Waste Free World. Manuela’s research explores the role of participatory design and systems thinking in the transition of the plastics system in Queensland towards a circular economy. As a sustainability professional, Manuela has extensive industry experience in waste management and minimisation, resource recovery, circular economy, and infrastructure sustainability. In her native Peru, Manuela co-founded ConCiencia, a play on words meaning “awareness” and “with-science”, an environmental education not-for-profit applying human centred design principles.