I am an Assistant Professor of Development Economics at the University of Goettingen. Before that, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Development Economics (Prof. Dr. Andreas Fuchs) at the University of Goettingen and at the Chair of International and Development Politics (Prof. Dr. Axel Dreher) at the University of Heidelberg, where I also completed my PhD on "Conflict, Income Shocks, and Foreign Policy: Macro- and Micro-Level Evidence." I was a visiting researcher at the Aix-Marseille School of Economics (funded by the Joachim-Herz-Foundation Add-on Fellowship), the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy (funded by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD) and at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

One major strand of my research focuses on the economics of conflict and migration, mostly based on household-level and geospatial data. Another strand looks at aid effectiveness. My current research on irregular migration is funded by the Dr. Hans Riegel-Foundation. On October 9-10, I am co-organizing a workshop on the "Economics and Politics of Irregular Migration" in Hamburg. You can find the preliminary program here.

Since 2020, I am hosting the Digital Development Dialogue (@3Dinfo, @3dseminar.bsky.social), a monthly 45-minute online forum for policy and research exchange. Two speakers – one researcher and one practitioner – touch upon key topics in development policy with the goal of stimulating a meaningful dialogue across the theory and practice divide. You can find more details and the current program here.