Paola Molina Almarcha (Seville, 2000) holds a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities at Pablo de Olavide University and she specialized in Early Modern History through the Master’s degree in Advanced Historical Studies at the University of Seville.

In the 2021–2022 academic year, she received a Collaboration Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, which allowed her to begin her initial research focused on the role of women in the economy and finance of the Carrera de Indias. Her undergraduate thesis, “Doña Baptistina Gallo y doña Francisca Clemencia de Winthuysen Gallo: la mujer como agente activo en la economía de indias del siglo XVIII en el Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz)” was awarded first prize in the Fifth Edition of the Undergraduate Degree and Master’s Thesis Awards in Gender and Equality Studies at Pablo de Olavide
University (2023).

Her master’s thesis, «Aproximación a la historia de la banca sevillana durante la temprana Edad Moderna. El camino hacia la empresa capitalista internacional de Juan Castellanos de Espinosa», established the basis for her current research, which explores both Economic and Financial History, and their social dimensions. She is currently working on a PhD dissertation focused on the Sevillian banks of the Espinosa family and Jácome Mortedo at the end of the 16th century. Her thesis examines the trajectory, activities, and networks of the mention public bank, placed within a wider system of capital flows that was undergoing renewal in response to global liquidity crises.