Climate change is not only about the environment – it also has major financial and institutional implications. This was the backstory to a recent report on ‘Risk Financing for Rural Climate Resilience in the Greater Mekong Subregion’ co-authored by GPAC² fellow Ornsaran Pomme Manuamorn. The report was published in May 2017 by her former employer, the Asian Development Bank (ADB). … Can you give us more details about your report? Why is it both timely and important? Rural communities are us...
A PhD can be a game-changer for your career, especially at a research institute or international organisation. But not for everyone. Paul Caldron, one of our recent GPAC2 graduates, is a medical doctor approaching the end of his career – and in many ways he valued personal over professional development. … Paul, why exactly did you join our part-time PhD programme? As you would expect, my answer will be non-traditional. When my kids had all left home, and my practice efficiency had improved to th...
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is taking place in Davos, Switzerland, and the issues being discussed include education, gender and work. A world away, the work of PhD Fellow Brenda Yamba considers child carers and high school attendance in Southern Africa — particularly how they manage, despite the great adversities they face. … With kids, mainly girls, dropping out of school to care for ill or old family members, we lose talent and fail to educate these children. How big is the prob...
PhD fellow Gloria Bernal, from our GPAC2 cohort 2017, has won a scholarship from the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP). One of only two beneficiaries from Maastricht University in the 2016 round, she currently works as a teacher at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. … Gloria, what made you apply to the GPAC2 programme? I think the GPAC2 programme provides a great combination of academic rigour and time flexibility. It allows me to conduct high quality research w...
The GPAC² PhD programme, designed for working professionals, brings us not only interesting PhD fellows but also increases our academic network thanks to external supervisors. One of our associated researchers, Prof. Louis Volante, initially came in as supervisor to Dr. Derek Copp, but is now contributing to the GPAC² programme as a teacher and supervisor. How did you get involved in the GPAC² programme? Derek initially contacted me in 2013 and inquired about my willingness to serve on his super...
Ana Cristina Calderon Ramirez, a PhD Fellow on our GPAC² programme, has beaten around 100 other researchers to win Best Paper Award at the International Public Procurement Conference 7 (IPPC7). The paper, ‘Elements of public procurement reform and their effect on the public sector in Latin America and the Caribbean’, was co-authored with Leslie Elizabeth Harper and Jorge Enrique Muñoz Ayala, but the main idea came from the PhD dissertation of Calderon Ramirez. She will now present at...
Around 168 million children worldwide are involved in child labour, according to recent ILO estimates. More than half of them, 85 million, are doing hazardous work. These numbers have fallen in recent years, but trends vary across regions, countries and sectors and the figures remain alarmingly high. In that context, impact evaluation can help policymakers to best target their interventions. Part-time PhD fellow Julia Brümmer explains the background to her research. … You just presented yo...
Clinical trials are an essential part of developing new drugs — but how can we limit or prevent ethical violations? How can we ensure effective governance, checks and balances, amid a proliferation of stakeholders? Part-time PhD fellow Farida Lada gives the background on her research and journey ahead of her defence on 22 June 2016. She explains why she chose the topic and why she felt she needed a PhD to advance her career. ••• You are about to defend your thesis ‘On guarding the welfare ...
Fatai Adegboye is one of our many part-time PhD fellows who also works for another UN body — in this case the World Food Programme (WFP) in Damascus, Syria. He came to Maastricht for our unique PhD Dual Career Training Programme in Governance and Policy Analysis (GPAC²). The questions are posed by course leader Dr. Mindel van de Laar. ••• Can you describe your daily work in Damascus? FA: I am a Business Support Manager at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Syria Country Office....
Civil wars disrupt many aspects of life and development, including the education of the next generation. Yet until now there has been very little research into the subject. We spoke with Dr. Silvia Consuelo Gómez Soler after her record-breaking defence on this topical issue — which is relevant worldwide. 1. Congratulations on your PhD defence! You focused on civil conflict and education, drawing lessons from Colombia. Why did you choose this topic? SG: Getting a better understanding of the...