I am a Research Fellow at SoDa Laboratories, Monash University.

I study the political economy of foreign aid, digital repression, and war, and build the microdata needed to see when and how they affect affect people and local economies. I am passionate about tapping into new data sources that let us track developments more closely: geospatial data, data with high temporal resolution, precise financial flows, and historic census records. 

I hold a PhD in Economics from the University of Göttingen and an MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics, studied economics in Bayreuth, Bordeaux and São Paulo, and worked at the German development bank KfW before starting my PhD.

My work has been published in the American Journal of Political Science and Economic Development and Cultural Change. 

Get in touch: lukas.wellner[at]monash.edu