More people are better educated, consuming more, in greater health, and living longer today than at any point in human history. However, many global challenges remain, the health of the planet one of them, and education, wealth, health, and other dimensions of human well-being are still distributed very unequally. I am an applied micro-economist interested in understanding the drivers of these inequalities and the policy- and behavioral options to address these, particularly in low- and middle income countries. My work has straddled research, policy, and teaching, sometimes in projects that combine all three, and often in multidisciplinary teams.
I am currently Professor of Economics and at Wageningen 木瓜福利影视 and Research (WUR). Between 2018 and 2024, I held the Chair of Global Economic Challenges at the , and also directed the , a multidisciplinary platform where researchers, teachers, and societal stakeholders connect, experiment, and seek to confront global challenges in transformative ways through a combination of projects, transdisciplinary education, and public engagement. I was also been a member of the Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 Open Science Platform. I continue to supervise several doctoral students at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视.
My research agenda has focused on addressing two global challenges: ensuring disadvantaged children have the same (early) education opportunities as everyone else, and promoting . Much of it is through primary data collection, including field experiments, lab-in-the-field, and survey research, with ongoing work in Bulgaria, India, the Gambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda. All of it is team work. In 2018, I was part of the team being awarded the 2018 Sustainability Science Award of the Ecological Society of America, which recognizes the authors of the scholarly work () that makes the greatest contribution to the emerging science of ecosystem and regional sustainability through the integration of ecological and social sciences.
Is this research influencing policy or practice? Sometimes. For example, recently the government of Bulgaria adopted a new law to make kindergartens free of charge for the poorest 40% of children. This new policy was informed and influenced by involving 5000+ children, many poor Bulgarian Roma children, in 236 communities, in collaboration with fellow researchers, the T, the Ministry of Education, the World Bank, and 23 local NGOs.
Before joining Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, I supported , a global philanthropy, as director for Learning and Evaluation, and worked with the as Senior Economist in its Human Development team for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. I also managed the World Bank鈥檚 (SIEF), a program that aims to influence policy making in (early childhood) education, health, social protection, and WASH through solid scientific evidence. Before that I held academic positions as Assistant Professor of Economics at the (UQ脌M) and as postdoctoral fellow at the economics department.
As for my studies: in 2005 I defended my PhD in Economics at , focused on gender norms and inequalities, based in part on field among migrants moving to Nairobi's (Kenya) informal settlements and on working couples in OECD countries. Before my PhD, a enabled me to travel to Kenya, India, Nepal, Mexico and Norway to explore how pastoralists are coping with globalization. This year of travel followed a liberal arts undergraduate study at , in upstate New York, which opened my appreciation of a multi-disciplinary perspective to understand and confront global challenges.