Research fellows profile

UNU-MERIT welcomes researchers with a Master’s degree who have strong academic records, professional and/or volunteer experience, affiliation with academic research and a special interest in the core disciplines of UNU-MERIT. We welcome fellows from all over the world with a wide variety of cultures and disciplines.

Fellows currently enrolled in the PhD programme reflect the international environment of UNU-MERIT. Participants from developed European countries, the USA and Canada as well as from the global South all take part in the programme.

Participants in the part-time PhD programme have external work responsibilities, leaving them less time for PhD research. Our participants – policy analysts, researchers and academic consultants from the public and private sectors, international organisations and research institutes – have jobs that allow them to spend a minimum amount of time on research activities that eventually lead to a PhD degree. Ideally, the employer of the participant supports the researcher actively by allocating time and facilitating research work (providing data, support, related assignments and the like).

As within the PhD programme, application requirements not only include educational degrees but also relevant work experience and endorsement of the employer, the profile of PhD fellows is significantly different from the profile of full-time PhD fellows. On average, our fellows are early to mid-career professionals being slightly older than the resident full-time fellows.  They have work obligations and families at home.  They continue to work in their current job and continue to live with their families at home, but free up time to come to Maastricht twice a year for the workshops.  Support from the partner is a key to success.


Current part-time phd fellows

Adam Adou
Mohamed Ag Alhousseini
Kwame Akoto-Danso
Alejandro Alvarez-Vanegas
José Gilberto Boari
Sebastian Boll
Marianne Caballero Parra
Elena Camilletti
Sara Castro de Hallgren
Mauricio Cespedes Quiroga
Jiawen Chen
Maria Collazos Ortiz
Laisa Daza Obando
Paolo Carmine De Salvo
Daisy Demirag
Kateryna Denysova
Tenzin Dolker
Nasir El-Rufai
Soufia Galand
Amira Gamaleldin
Lotte Geunis
Valerio Giuffrida
Elizabeth Hassan
Silvana Huanqui
Lars Johannes
Dina Kamal
Jane Karonga
Na Rae Kim
Christine Kiruthu-Kamamia
Anna Knoll
Philipp König
Jonas Krieger
Martha Lahai-Conteh
Rodrigo Lopez Barreda
Renata Mayer Gukovas
Giovanna Mazzeo Ortolani
Ilsa Meidina
Lindsey Moore
Ricardo Morel Berendson
Márcia da Mota Darós
Felipe Munoz
Stafford Nichols
Casty Njoroge
Ari Perdana
Dobrina Poirier
Dmitry Poletayev
Olga Rataj
Karol Rodriguez
Claudia Röthlisberger
Abdinassir Sagar
Jacqueline Salguero-Huaman
Karin Schmidt Martinez
Giulia Sechi
Martin Smith
Nayaatha Taitt
Helvecia Nfombi Takwe
Paul Timah
Joyce Treptow

Graduates

Erich de la Fuente (2022) “Limiting Media Freedom in Democratic States”
Promotors: Michael Cichon, Mindel van de Laar and Eduardo Gamarra

Maria Espinosa Romero (2021) “The Shadow of State Hierarchy”
Promotors: Juan Calors Seijo, Julieta Marotta and Michal Natorski

Eliana Rubiano (2021) “Essays on Conflict-Induced Displacement and Gender in Colombia”
Promotors: Melissa Siegel, Ortrun Merkle and Lisa Andersson

Purity Njagi (2021) “Financial risk, vulnerability and equity of access to health care services in Kenya”
Promotors: Wim Groot and Jelena Arseneijvic

Rafael Lemaitre Carabias (2021) “Public Sector Innovation in the United Arab Emirates – How innovation occurs and what outcomes it delivers”
Promotors: Jo Ritzen and Anthony Arundel

Gloria Lucia Bernal Nisperuza (2021) “Preferences and Performance of High School Students in Response to Scholarships, Information, and Co-education”
Promotors: Kristof de Witte and Mindel van de Laar

Atsuko Okuda (2021) “Towards e-compliance: Exploring the role of compliance and e-governance initiatives in the case of Bhutan”
Promotors: Baharul Islam, Antonio Cordella and Mindel van de Laar

Gillian McFarland (2021) “Doing Policy in Further Education: An exploration of the enactment of the GCSE Resit Policy in Further Education Colleges in England”
Promotors: Louis Volante and Mark Bevir

Ornsaran Pomme Manuamorn (2021) “Governance of International Adaptation Finance for Local Climate Change Adaptation: An Analysis of Adaptation Fund Projects”
Promotor: Shyama Ramani

Fernanda Assuncao Soares (2019) “The Influence of Within School and Across Schools’ Collaborative Practices on Student Learning and Teaching Outcomes in West Africa”
Promotors: Kristoff de Witte and Mindel van de Laar

Camilo Nicaron Carrillo Purin(2019)“Teachers’ in-service training and student achievement: The effect of in-service training of Peruvian teachers on student achievement”
Promotors: Wim Groot and Henriette Maarse van den Brink

Michal Kazimierczak (2019) “Regional Innovation and Entrepreneurship Patents, Trade Marks, Entry and Entrants’ Growth in European Manufacturing Industries”
Promotors: Rene Belderbos and Micheline Goedhuys

Richard De Groot (2019)“Cash Transfers, Child Nutrition and Intra-Household Dynamics: Unpacking the Causal Mechanisms”
Promotors: Franziska Gassmann, Michael Cichon and NyashaTirivayi

Nicolas Echarti (2019) “Employment Effects of Vocational Rehabilitation in Germany, A quantitative analysis”
Promotors: CathalO’donoghue and Esther Schüring

Sheille Solomon (2019) “Neighborhoods Matter: Crime, Collective Efficacy and Foreclosures in Miami”
Promotors: Hans Nelen and Cathal O’Donoghue

Ana Christina Calderon (2019) “Institutional isomorphism and Policy transfer in Public management reforms,Three stories about public procurement agencification in Latin America”
Promotors: Mark Bevir and Gian Luigi Albano

Catie Lott (2019) “Broadening Measures of Women’s Access to Formal Political Decision-Making”
Promotors: Mark Bevir and Petra Meier

Mutinta Nseluke Hambayi (2018) “A Tall Order: Improving Child Linear Growth. Diets, transitions and maternal education”
Promotors: Wim Groot and NyashaTirivayi

Vinci Vincenzo (2018) “The Relevance of Institutions and People’s Preferences for Social Protection”
Promotors: Pierre Mohnen, Franziska Gassmann

Clothilde Mahe (2018) “Essays on Migration and Occupational Choice”
Promotors: WimNaude and Melissa Siegel

Silke Heuser (2018) “The Effectiveness of Environmental Policies on Reducing Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon”
Promotors: CathalO’Donoghue, Jan Börner and Ronald Skeldon

Khaled Rajab (2018) ”Strategic Planning under Fragility The Role of Leadership in the Strategic Planning of Municipalities in Palestine”
Promotors: Eddy Szirmai and Paul Rabe

Tareq Abu-el-Haj (2018) “Food Security Policy Impact Analysis: The Econometrics of Cash and Food Assistance Cost Effectiveness”
Promotors: CathalO’Donoghue and Franziska Gassmann


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