Dr. Maria Klara Kuss




Research group(s):
7. Social Protection
4. Governance and institutions

Political Economy, Development, Social Protection & Gender

Maria Klara Kuss is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work sits at the intersection of politics, development sociology, and social anthropology. Her expertise focuses on Political Economy, Social Protection, Social & Gender norms. She holds a PhD in Public Policy & Policy Analysis from the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT)/Maastricht University – supervised by J Allister McGregor (Bath), Mark Bevir (UC Berkeley), and Franziska Gassmann (Maastricht). Her PhD analyses the de facto negotiations of Zambia’s welfare regime and the transformative implications of Social Cash Transfers for women and girls. This research evolved from her earlier work as Research Officer at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex (UK) and her practical experience in developing countries, gained through her engagement with UN Women and her work as a gender advisor for the GIZ.

Maria Klara holds a Master’s degree in Governance and International Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex (UK) and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Applied Sciences Wuerzburg (Germany). She has worked with numerous national and international organisations (including INCLUDE/NWO, UNICEF, OECD, UNIFEM and GIZ) conducting research, consultancy and advisory work in social protection, change and continuity, poverty, rural livelihoods and gender in Zambia, Uganda, Panama and other developing countries. Her expertise includes: designing and conducting qualitative research, combining quantitative, qualitative and participatory methods; fieldwork and supervision of local fieldwork teams, policy advice and evaluation work; project management; workshop facilitation, and teaching.




Selected publications by Maria Klara Kuss


UNU-MERIT