About
Current Visiting Scholars and PhDs

Our Visiting PhD Fellowship Programme and the Visiting Scholars Programme give doctoral students, as well as qualified scholars an opportunity to participate in UNU-WIDER activities and the opportunity to research topics related to development, and/or global economic issues. After being held online in 2020 and 2021, UNU-WIDER is excited to welcome the visitors in our Helsinki office.
Visiting Scholars — Autumn 2022
Gindo TampubolonGindo Tampubolon

I am a senior lecturer on global health at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, where I study dementia and the life courses of Americans, Britons and Europeans. But this sabbatical at UNU-WIDER affords me a unique place to study Rawls and Sen and their ideas on social justice, applying them to the experience of persons with disability under climate shocks.

Visiting PhD Fellows – Autumn 2022
Alex Adegboye Alex Adegboye

I am a PhD candidate in Taxation at Covenant University, Nigeria. My research focuses on Sustainable Development, Public Finance, Governance Quality, Financial Innovation and Knowledge Economy. I am currently working on the role of accountability dynamics on tax revenue mobilization for sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 
Cecilia NardiCecilia Nardi

I am a PhD Candidate in Economics at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). My research interests include climate change, migration, conflicts, and development economy.  I am currently working on investigating the existence of linkages between climate change, conflict intensity and households’ migration, in socioeconomic and climate vulnerable countries of Sub Saharian Africa.

 
Elie LunangaElie Luhanga

I am a PhD Candidate in Development Economics at the University of Antwerp. My research interests are in energy economics, natural resources, and conflicts in developing countries. My current work focuses on the impact of rural and urban electrification on economic development, security, and conservation in the Eastern DRC.

 
Mark Akrofi Mark Akrofi

I’m a PhD candidate in Sustainability Science at the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, Tokyo, Japan. My research interests revolve broadly around sustainable energy transitions, with a focus on policies and processes by which these transitions occur, especially in developing countries. My current research explores the impacts of urban form on residential rooftop solar PV potentials in high and low-income neighbourhoods in Accra, Ghana.

 
RavinderRavinder

I am a graduate student in the economics and planning unit at Indian Statistical Institute (Delhi Centre) working in development economics. Broadly, my research interests are in education and labor issues in developing countries. My current research examines causal linkages between tertiary education and the level of rural development in the process of structural transformation in the Indian context.

 
Shakeba FosterShakeba Foster

I am PhD candidate in Development Economics at King’s College London. My research interests include income inequality, the informal sector, and recovery from recessions in developing and emerging economies. My current research explores whether transitions out of informal employment can reduce income inequality in South Africa.