Forskning

Summary

Development economist with extensive experience in policy-oriented research at the highest level, international project coordination, strong educational leadership and high quality teaching at all levels.

My main research interests revolve around labour regimes, informality, regulatory frameworks, green transition and environmental issues, primarily in the Global South.  Geographical focus is sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania) and East Asia (mostly Vietnam).

Since 2025, I am Head of Study for the MA in Socioeconomics (Samfundsøkonomi).

Ongoing Projects

1. Principal Investigator on the DANIDA financed project (April 2025-March 2030) Buying-In and Buying-Out in GREEN transition projects which focuses on the implementation of green transition investments in Tanzania and implications for local communities and government authorities specifically how the benefits of green transition investments are (unevenly) distributed amongst local communities.  The project is a joint collaboration between University of Dodoma, University of Aga Khan and the local Tanzanian NGO named Policy Forum.
2. Co-Principal Investigator on the DANIDA financed project (2026-2031) Reducing Vulnerability Through Climate Resilient Water and Wastewater Interventions in Ghana (ReVIGA) which will investigate the impact of climate resilient water systems on marginalised groups’ vulnerability and adaptation in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana. The project will develop a socio-technical systems approach to analyse interplays, contests, and coexistence between social and technical dimensions of complex systems. 

Past Projects

1. Co-Principal Investigator on the DANIDA financed project (2022-2025) SWASH (Sustainable Wastewater Systems for Ghana) a joint collabotation between RUC, University of Ghana and University of Miami.  Linked to the Strategic Sector Corporation between Denmark and Ghana, the project contributed to achieving viable technical solutions by investigating the role of informality in government’s efforts to achieve sustainable urban water systems and undertaking a holistic and interdisciplinary analysis of different sites and institutions. It approached water system development as an inherently non-linear and political process, as well as necessarily technical, natural, and economic. 
2. Co-Principal Investigator on the DANIDA financed project STRESS (Strengthening the Resilience of Sahelian Societies) which explores the everyday governance of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in peri-urban areas of Burkina Faso in a context of uncertainty due to climate change and conflict. STRESS explores empirically and theoretically the concept of resilience, i.e. the ability of individuals, groups, communities and institutions to cope with external disturbances and stress. Moreover, STRESS aims to strengthen research capacity in the Sahel on these topical issues.
3. Co-Principal Investigator on the DANIDA financed project (2016-2022) Informal Worker Organization and Social Protection (SPIWORK), a joint research initiative between Roskilde University, University of Nairobi, Kenya and Mzumbe University in Tanzania. SPIWORK was funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ends in 2022. SPIWORK has produced an edited volume and several articles and policy briefs.

Educational leadership & Teaching

Apart from being Head of Study, I have an extensive teaching portfolio which includes a range of economics/political economy and labour-related courses including Political Economy of Development, Ecological Economics, International Political Economy, Labour in the Global Economy, Global Political Economy of the Green Transition and Informality in the Global South.  I also teach methods courses including Advanced Econometrics.

Moreover, I supervise various masters thesis in Global Development Studies and bachelor projects in International Studies and Socioeconomics.

Finally, I am on the censorkorps for Economics and Global Development at Copenhagen University, Syddansk University and Århus University.

Other activities

Consultant for the ILO, UNESCAP, World Bank and UNU-WIDER.

Member of the ESRC/GCRF Strategic Network on Legal Regulation of Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW): https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/

Regular reviewer for European Journal of Development Research, International Labour Review, Journal of Development Studies, Review of Development Economics, World Development and World Development Sustainability.

Employment Record

2024 – now   Associate Professor at RUC/ISE

2016 – 2024  Post.Doc/Assistant Professor at RUC/ISE

2013 – 2016  Consultant at the International Labour Organization

2015 – 2015  Consultant at the World Bank and UNDP 

2014 – 2016  External lecturer at Danish Institute for Study Abroad

2009 – 2013   PhD student at the University of Copenhagen, Dept. of Economics

2008 – 2009   Researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Dept. of Economics                      

2007 – 2008   Economist at the International Labour Organization  

2007 – 2007   Technical officer at CEOSS (NGO), Cairo, Egypt             

2003 – 2006   Assistant to the Director at the UN Research Institute for Social Development

2001 – 2003   Researcher at the International Labour Organization 

Education

2009 – 2013   PhD in Economics, Dept. of Economics, University of Copenhagen,                             

2000 – 2001   MSc in International Development, University of Bath, UK

1997 – 2000   BA in Economics, Politics and Philosophy, University of York, UK