An economist by training, I apply mixed methods (combining quantitative and qualitative approaches) to my research.  My research, consultancy and advisory work encompass: climate change adaptation and resilience; livelihoods and rural development; social mobility; youth; markets and institutions; social networks; risk, vulnerability and poverty. I also do mixed-methods impact evaluation, especially of complex programmes.

I joined DEVCo in 2013 following a long stint at the Institute of Development Studies in the Vulnerability and Poverty Reduction Team. I work partly as a Senior Research Fellow with the School of International Development doing research and impact evaluations. I also carry out impact evaluations as an independent consultant.

• I have a PhD in Economics from the University of Sussex and an MSC in Agricultural Economics from Imperial College (Wye).
• My PhD thesis was on social networks and economic life in rural Zambia, and examined the ways in which smallholder farmers’ social networks determined their participation in crop markets. It combined social network analysis with new institutional economics/ transaction costs models, and was informed by anthropological and sociological approaches, particularly in relation to labour markets. (Supervisors - Howard White and Julie Litchfield; Examiners - Andy McKay and Arjan Verschoor)
• During my MSc I specialised in econometrics. My dissertation was on Food Consumption in Bulgaria – an ‘Almost Ideal Demand System’

My research interests focus on the intersection of social, cultural and economic life in the context of poverty, inequality and vulnerability. I work mainly on rural livelihoods, climate change adaptation and resilience. I have a strong interest in social mobility in relation to exits out of poverty for the poorest and most marginalised people.