Paula Herrera Idárraga has been affiliated with Pontificia Universidad Javeriana since 2005 and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics. She teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research in the fields of the care economy, gender, and labor markets, among others.

She has carried out research on gender discrimination and gaps, educational mismatch, informality, and regional inequalities in Colombia. She has served as Chair of the Department of Economics at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and as Director General of the Colombian Public Employment Service. She also led a project on economics and gender aimed at mainstreaming a gender perspective in the curricula of undergraduate and graduate economics programs in Colombian universities.

Her main research interests include the care economy, gender discrimination, labor markets, regional studies, and economic development. She has published articles in indexed academic journals such as The Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Comparative Economics, Spatial Economic Analysis, and Cuadernos de Economía, among others, and serves as a referee for several specialized journals.