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Philipp graduated as a PhD in Economics from KU Leuven in 2025. He spent a long research stay at Georgetown University during his PhD. He currently is an Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore. His research combines insights from international trade, networks and environmental economics. website
Serena Chellini
Serena is a PhD candidate at KU Leuven in International Trade and Environment. She holds a Msc. in Economics from Bologna University. She spent a research trimester at McMaster University in Canada and a trimester at Imperial College, London in the context of her PhD research. She uses firm-level data and input-output data to conduct her research. Her expected PhD. graduation is September 2026
Yupeng Zhang
Yupeng joined KU Leuven in 2022 under the supervision of Hylke Vandenbussche as a CSC scholar. Yupeng spent one year in the research group, as a visiting 3rd year PhD student from Peking University. He successfully defended his PhD upon return and now holds a job in the federal government in China.
Victor Gimenez
Víctor Ortiz Giménez joined the International Economics group in the Econ department as a visiting PhD student under the supervision of Hylke Vandenbussche until in 2022-2023. His research interest lies at the intersection of International Trade and Policy Evaluation. In particular, he combines predictive machine learning tools and other more causal tools to understand the dynamics of exporters. Víctor graduated from IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca in 2023.
Víctor Ortiz Giménez joined the International Economics group in the Econ department as a visiting PhD student under the supervision of Hylke Vandenbussche until in 2022-2023. His research interest lies at the intersection of International Trade and Policy Evaluation. In particular, he combines predictive machine learning tools and other more causal tools to understand the dynamics of exporters. Víctor graduated from IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca in 2023.
Giorgos Morakis
Giorgos Morakis is joining the department in 2023 as a PhD student under the supervision of Hylke Vandenbussche as part of a joint PhD degree program with IMT Lucca. He obtained a Bachelor in Economics from Universidad Central de Venezuela, and an MSc in Computational economics from the University of Essex, UK. His current research focusing on economic networks and regional development.
Lan Lin
Lan joined the department as a visiting PhD student in the year 2023-2024 under the supervision of Prof. Hylke Vandenbussche. She is a 3rd year PhD student from Peking University, interested in international trade and related. Her current research is on the impact of digitalization on firms.
Hanxiao Zhong
Hanxiao is a doctoral student at KU Leuven under the supervison of Prof. Hylke Vandenbussche. He joined the department in September 2023. Prior to this, he obtained his Bachelor's degree at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) and concluded his Master's program at the Geneva Graduate Institute. His research interest lies in the area of international trade and focuses on the effect of digitalization on firm performance and value chain participation.
Junyan Chen (Julie)
Julie is a 3rd year PhD at Bejing Normal University, currently visiting the International Economics group at KULeuven in 2025-26. Her research focuses on international trade and development economics, particularly on the inequality in the cost of living caused by trade shocks at the household level. She is also interested in labor market adjustment and firm performance in the context of trade. You can find her in office 01.167.
Yu Ji (Jessie)
Jessie is a 3rd year Econ PhD student of Beijng University. In the year 2025-26, she is a visiting scholar at KU Leuven in the International Economics group on a SCS scholarship. Her research examines about how China's trade policies influence exporting firms and how place-based policies affect firms' location choices. She is currently working on projects related to the impact of the China–US trade conflict on supply chains, as well as China–EU trade and FDI.
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