Team

Institution: Free University of Berlin

Position: Researcher and PhD Candidate

Email: Valerie.auer@fu-berlin.de

Webpage: Website

Areas of expertise:  Development Economics, Latin America, Financial System, Inequality, Economic Sociology, Qualitative Research Methods

Valerie studied Economics at FU Berlin, Philosophy, Politics and Economics at HHU Düsseldorf and holds a Master's degree in International Development Economics from HTW Berlin. Since 2025, she is a scholarship holder at the doctoral program Equalfin - Finance and Inequality in Times of Polycrises at FU Berlin and HTW Berlin. In her PhD, she focuses on currency hierarchies and its unequal effects on households, with a focus on the informal sector. Currently, she is working on an interdisciplinary project focusing on the implications of partial dollarization in Cuba.

Institution: German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA, Hamburg)

Position: Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: Katharina.fietz@giga-hamburg.de

Webpage: Institute

Areas of expertise:  Labor and development economics, social protection systems

Katharina is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the GIGA German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Hamburg. Her research focuses on social protection systems in the context of informal labour markets. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Göttingen, a Master’s degree in Economics from Nova School of Business and Economics, and her research interests lie in development and labour economics.

Institution: RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (RWI, Berlin office) 

Position: Research

Email: sarah.frohnweiler@rwi-essen.de

Webpage: Personal

Areas of expertise:  Development economics, impact evaluation, migration economics, labor economics

Sarah is a research fellow of the "Global Migration" research group at the RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research. In 2025, she obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of Göttingen and RWI. In her thesis, she studied the impact of interventions aimed at fostering skills development and migration in Sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a M.Sc. in Development Economics from the University of Göttingen and a B.A. in International Economics and Development from the University of Bayreuth. Since 2020, Sarah is an active member of DENeB. Within development economics, her research interests lie at the intersection of labor, migration, and education economics.

Institution: Humboldt University of Berlin, Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ)

Position:  Researcher and PhD Candidate

Email: garcia@igzev.de

Webpage: Institute 

Areas of expertise: Conflict, food security, impact evaluation, humanitarian aid allocation

Jonathan Garcia is a doctoral researcher at the Zero Hunger Lab, a working group between IGZ and the Humboldt University of Berlin. He is also a research affiliate at ISDC. In his Ph.D., he studies the link between climate-driven conflict and food insecurity and evaluates the impact and trade-offs of targeting and prioritization approaches of humanitarian aid. He holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the Georg-August University of Göttingen, a Master’s degree in Labour Economics from the University of Turin, and a B.A. in Applied Economics from the Central American University in Nicaragua. He worked for over seven years at the UN-World Food Programme in Nicaragua, Mozambique, Sudan, and the regional bureaus for Latin America (Panama) and Southern Africa (Johannesburg).

Institution: Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)

Position:  Researcher and PhD Candidate

Email: alina.imping@fau.de

Webpage: Institute 

Areas of expertise: Health and development economics, insurance, risk and uncertainty, behavioural economics

Alina holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Humboldt University in Berlin. Since 2020, she is a Doctoral Student at the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. In her PhD, she focuses on health care seeking behaviour, especially under risk and uncertainty, and health insurance in low-income contexts. She is currently involved in a study evolving around a large social health protection initiative in Pakistan.

Institution: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

Position:  Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: giuliama@pik-potsdam.de

Webpage: Institute 

Areas of expertise:  Development economics, poverty analysis, agricultural economics

Giulia holds a PhD in Development Economics and Local Systems (DELoS) from the Universities of Trento and Florence with a thesis on poverty traps and climatic shocks, refugees and income diversification. Since June 2023 she is a postdoctoral researcher at PIK. She works both with the Adaptation in Agricultural Systems and with the Climate Change and Health working groups. Her research at PIK focuses on the socio-economic impacts of climate change and adaptation solutions in low- and middle-income countries. Her other research interests include food security, rural development, migration and gender issues. 

Institution: RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (Essen office)

Position: Researcher and PhD Candidate 

Email: lena.merkel@rwi-essen.de

Webpage: Institute

Areas of expertise:  Health economics, behavioral economics

Lena Merkel is a researcher and doctoral candidate in the Population and Development research group. She is a doctoral researcher within the interdisciplinary Leibniz Research Alliance INFECTIONS in an Urbanizing World. 

Lena holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and a two-subject Bachelor's degree in History and Economic and Social History from the University of Göttingen. She also completed her Master's studies in Göttingen, earning degrees in Development Economics (M.Sc.) and History of Global Markets (M.A.). Her research interests lie in the field of global health, with a particular focus on local pharmaceutical markets in sub-Saharan Africa and the dynamics of global trade flows.

Institution: RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (Berlin office)

Position:  Postdoctoral Researcher 

Email: lukas.mogge@rwi-essen.de

Webpage: Institute 

Areas of expertise:  Climate adaptation, weather shocks, index insurance, humanitarian aid allocation

Lukas is a researcher at RWI’s Economic Policy Lab "Climate Change, Development and Migration". Lukas holds a MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a MSc in Economics from the Free University of Berlin. In 2023, he completed his doctoral studies in Economics at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Ruhr-University Bochum. Since 2020, Lukas is an active member of DENeB. His research interests are the socio-economic consequences of climate change, climate adaptation strategies, and development aid. 

Institution: University of Potsdam

Position:  PhD Candidate

Email: niklas.murken@uni-potsdam.de

Webpage: Institute 

Areas of expertise:  Development economics, impact evaluation, migration economics

Niklas began his PhD at the University of Potsdam in April 2023, focusing on how social networks influence climate-adaptive behaviors, such as migration, as part of the project “Senegal Migration Panel – Understanding Mobility in a Climate-Stressed Population”. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Mannheim and a Master’s from Humboldt University Berlin. Prior to his PhD, he worked at the World Bank Group in Dakar, Senegal, focusing on improving access to finance for underserved populations.

Institution: RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (Berlin office)

Position: Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: julian.roeckert@rwi-essen.de

Webpage: Institute

Areas of expertise: Development economics, impact evaluation, climate impacts and adaptation

Julian is a researcher RWI´s Economic Policy Lab "Climate Change, Development, and Migration”. He studied economics in Tübingen and Berlin, and also holds a degree from Goldsmiths College in London. Julian completed his PhD at the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in 2023. His research interests include socio-economic consequences of climate change and climate adaptation strategies at the household and community level. Additionally, he focuses on the evaluation of international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.

Institution: International Security and Development Center (ISDC, Berlin)

Position: Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: ronzani@isdc.org

Webpage: Institute, Personal website

Areas of expertise: Behavioral development economics, conflicts, impact evaluation

His main topic of research is the role of poverty in decision-making processes. Piero’s research agenda includes studying misinformation, decisions under risk and testing public policies in experimental settings. Joining ISDC, he expanded his research areas by working on the linkage beween conflicts and development in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Piero is passionate about behavioural development economics, lab-in-the-field experiments, and impact evaluation techniques.

Piero has previously worked at the Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory at Trento University and CRESA Laboratory at San Raffaele University. In 2018 and 2019 he was a visiting scholar at CSAE in Oxford University. He holds a PhD in Economics obtained at Trento University.

Institution: German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA, Hamburg)

Position: Researcher and PhD Candidate

Email: regina.schnars@giga-hamburg.de

Webpage: Institute

Areas of expertise: Development economics, investment and labor economics

Regina is a doctoral researcher at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg and the University of Göttingen. She works on foreign direct investment, domestic investment and productive employment in sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a Master's Degree in Development Economics from the University of Göttingen.

Institution:  Free University of Berlin, DlW Berlin 

Position: Researcher and PhD Candidate

Email: ytchokni@diw.de

Webpage: Personal website

Areas of expertise: Migration, inequality, discrimination

Yogam began his PhD in 2021 at DIW Berlin. His research focuses on migration, and he is part of the project“Senegal Migration Panel - Understanding Mobility in a Climate-Stressed Population” at RWI. He also works on topics examining migration, discrimination, and inequality. Before starting his PhD, he earned a master’s degree in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics. He has also worked as a research assistant at the University of Mannheim and as a data scientist.

Institution: International Security and Development Center (ISDC, Berlin)

Position: Researcher and PhD Candidate

Email: ungwang@isdc.org

Webpage: Institute

Areas of expertise: Behavioral development economics, impact evaluation, microfinance, health and gender, peacebuilding

Lame is a researcher at ISDC Berlin and a doctoral candidate of the IMPRS Uncertainty research school at the university of Jena. Her ongoing work is on testing the efficacy of different approaches to improve the delivery of microfinance; and examining how to increase the use of welfare-improving technologies in the health domain. More recently, Lame conducts impact evaluations of peacebuilding programs funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Latin America, which include peace-radio programming, land reform and various agricultural interventions. Her research is mostly experimental, including RCTs, lab-in-the-field and lab experiments,  as well as quasi-experimental and impact evaluation techniques.