I am an Austrian-Ugandan kick-boxing, feminist urban economist, passionate about evidence-based impact and the power of cities. Most importantly I am the mother of a fiercely amazing little girl.
I have lived in 10 countries, across 4 continents and worked in countless others to date.
My work spans research and practice, and I am currently based out of Hong Kong, but working globally. Throughout my career, I have worked extensively supporting evidence-based policy reform in various government and non-governmental organisations. My focus is municipal and infrastructure finance as well as urban economic development and strategic planning for cities more broadly.
My current affiliations are as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Cities, University of Toronto, Extraordinary Lecturer at the African Tax Institute at the University of Pretoria, and Research Associate at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town as well as a Research Associate at ODI. I have also been appointed to several board and advisory board roles. Her current appointments are on:
- Board of Directors, The Mawazo Institute
- Board of Directors, Local Public Sector Alliance
- Advisory Board, Centre for Housing and Sustainable Urbanisation, University of Lagos
- Advisory Board, Local Government Revenue Initiative
Previously I worked in a number of leadership and management positions including as the Policy Director at the International Growth Centre (IGC). In this position, I led the high-level country and global engagements of the IGC translating research in economic growth to policy impact. I also led IGC’s cities work as the Head of the Cities that Work Initiative and the Senior Economist for Cities.
Prior to joining the IGC, I worked for Innovations for Poverty Action as well as for Evidence Action, which included work on evidence-based impact through randomised-control trial research, as well as scaling successful interventions in Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi. I have further lived and worked in rural South Sudan as an analyst on a large-scale agriculture project as well as in Kenya as an Economist (ODI Fellow) in the Ministry of East African Community. At the start of my career I worked in the NGO sector in Senegal, Kenya, Uganda and Washington D.C.
Perhaps most notably in my ambitions to support evidence-based policy-making in urbanisation, in my career, to date, I have been invited to present to and/or work with, amongst others, the President of the African Development Bank, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, His Excellency the President of Sierra Leone, His Excellency the Prime Minister of Jordan; the Honourable Ministers of Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs (Uganda), Interior (Somaliland), and Finance (Punjab, Pakistan); Secretary General of the Presidency (Cote D’Ivoire); Deputy Executive Director of UNHabitat; the Governors, Mayors and City Managers of Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Amman (Jordan), Baiji (Iraq), Cape Town (South Africa), Dakar (Senegal), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Dohuk (Iraq), Fallujah (Iraq), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Gaborone (Botswana), Harare (Zimbabwe), Hargeisa (Somaliland), Jinja (Uganda), Juba (South Sudan), Kabul (Afghanistan), Kampala (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda), Kisumu (Kenya), Lilongwe (Malawi), Lusaka (Zambia), Mandalay (Myanmar), Monrovia (Liberia), Mosul (Iraq), Nairobi (Kenya) and Quelimane (Mozambique).
My work in urbanisation space was recognised in 2016 by the University of Cape Town where I was nominated as one of Africa’s Young Leaders. In 2020, my alma mater, Johns Hopkins University awarded me with their Outstanding Recent Graduate Award.
Although most of my publications can be viewed on this Publications page, here I want to highlight that I am a proud contributing author to the anthology Feminist Parenting, Perspectives from Africa and Beyond.
I hold an MSc in Public Financial Management from SOAS, University of London, an MA in International Economics and International Development from Johns Hopkins University (in Italy and the USA) and BSc from the University of Warwick (UK). During my undergraduate degree I also spent a year studying at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain).
You can download my most recent CV here.
Previous Board Memberships and Affiliations:
- Centre of Excellence for Urbanisation and Habitable Cities, University of Lagos, Advisory Board (2021-2023)
- University of Toronto, School of Cities, Infrastructure Institute Special Advisor (2021 – 2023)
- Local Public Sector Alliance, Editorial Advisory Board (2021-present)
- C40 Cities, Finance Advisory Group (2021 – 2023)
- African Tax Administrators Forum, African Tax Research Network Conference Scientific Committee (2021)
- University of Bergen, Global Research Programme on Inequality, Research Affiliate (2021-present)
- Utopia Lagos (2020 – 2022)
- ARUA Centre for Excellence for Urbanisation and Habitable Cities (2019-present)
- World Resources Institute and Shell Foundation, 3I Mobility Programme (2019-2021)
- International Growth Centre Cities that Work Council (2015-2021)
- Makerere University Business School, Economics Association (2016-2018)
- Johns Hopkins University Bologna Centre Advisory Council (2010-2014)