GPD Trainees and Fellows
The Graduate Program in Development is home to over 50 trainees. All GPD trainees are pursuing PhDs in anthropology, economics, history, political science, or sociology, while also receiving advanced interdisciplinary training in the area of development and inequality. Between 2010 and 2016, many of our GPD trainees were supported by generous fellowships from the National Science Foundation’s Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT).
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Maria Lopez-Portillo
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. I focus on organizational change, political processes and subject-making in Latin America. I hold a BA in political science from El Colegio de México and an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. ... Read more -
Cyril Bennouna
I am a doctoral student in political science. My research focuses on efforts to improve the wellbeing of populations affected by armed conflict. I am particularly interested in interventions aimed at preventing political, community, and family violence, strengthening civil society and local governance, and integrating forced migrants into their new... Read more -
Nicolas Taccone
I'm a Ph.D. student in Political Science (Comparative Politics). I received my M.A. in Political Science from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and my B.A. from Universidad de San Andrés. My substantive interests are state-building and democratization processes, with a regional focus on Latin America. I'm also interested in the study of... Read more -
Samsun Knight
I am a second-year Ph.D. student in the Economics Department. I intend to specialize in applied microeconomics, with a particular focus on labor and development economics. In addition, I'm interested in critical analysis of measurements, and how certain biases of measurements can change over time. I have an MA in... Read more -
Xu Huang
I am a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology. My research interests are anchored in comparative-historical sociology, with an emphasis on how and why information and expertise facilitate organizational innovation, shape policy process, direct economic development, and even create political change. I have been following the dynamics of authoritarian... Read more -
Alejandra Irene Cueto Piazza
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. My research broadly addresses the interface between political sociology, labor relations and sociology of professions. Specifically, I am interested in understanding state bureaucracies in relation to the informal economy and unions or workers organizations. Before arriving to Brown, I earned an MA in... Read more -
Deborah Frempong
I am a PhD student in the Anthropology Department. My research interests include religion, gender, transnationalism and race. I focus on the historical and contemporary constructions of womanhood in Ghanaian Christian communities. I hold a masters degree in theological studies with a focus on religion, politics and ethics from Harvard... Read more -
Jose Manuel Belmar Ahonzo
I am PhD student in the Economics Department, specializing in Comparative Economic Development and Urban Economics. My research interests include the Economic History of Latin America from colonial times to the present, structural transformation and inequality. My current work focuses on the link between urban development and traditional exports during... Read more -
Nabila Islam
I received my BA in history and political science at York University in Toronto, Canada. I completed my MA work at the Department of Political Science at McGill University, the Center for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (where I was a Queen Elizabeth II Scholar), and... Read more -
Haoming
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. My research interests lie in the overlapping areas of family studies and inequality. Particularly, I am interested in the recent changes in family structures and relationships as well as how they contribute to the reproduction and transmission of different forms of... Read more
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Aaron
I am a third-year PhD student in the Economics Department, specializing in Urban Economics and Development Economics. My current work focuses primarily on urban disasters, rebuilding, and the resulting shifts in long-run city outcomes. My other research interests focus on slums, property... Read more
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Amy Jo-Shin Wang
I am a first year PhD student in the Political Science Department. My interest in political science is rooted in the confluence of ethics and science. I intend to focus my research in the field of International Political Economy with an emphasis on development, climate change, and inequality in the... Read more -
Jonathon
I am a PhD student in sociology. I earned my BA in Political Science (Theory tract) and Ethnic Studies at Brown University. As an undergraduate, I was a research assistant for Kay Warren, an anthropologist, studying human trafficking, prostitution, and labor migration in Latin America and East... Read more
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Shanelle
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. I focus on political and civil society organizations that position themselves to influence foreign policy discourse toward sustainable development solutions in sub-Saharan Africa. I am also interested in policy formulation processes that impact ... Read more
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Daniel
I am a first-year PhD student in the Political Science Department. I am particularly focused on the politics of Turkey, Russia, and Eastern Europe. My research interests include ethnopolitics, conflict, secularism, religion in politics, and nationalism. I hold a BA in History and Literature (Russian) from Harvard College... Read more
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Jocelyn
I am a PhD student in Sociology. My research interests are organizations, gender, and political sociology. I focus on questions related to anti-human trafficking, transnational social movements, women’s empowerment, and the role of organizations in advocacy and collective action. I hold an MA in ... Read more
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Rui F.
I am a doctoral student in the Sociology department. My current areas of academic interest are: race and ethnicity, (international) migration, urban sociology, and social theory. I am interested in understanding why (and how) people migrate, and what are the constraints they face in: making their decisions... Read more
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Megan
I am a first year sociology PhD student. I obtained my BA at the College of the Holy Cross (right down the road!) in Political Science and French and studied abroad in Strasbourg, France for a year, taking classes at the Institut Robert Schuman. After graduation, I spent a few months... Read more
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Keenan
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. My research is in political and comparative historical sociology. I’m interested in labor movements and political change in the Middle East and North Africa and I am currently working on the emergence and organization of unions in Tunsia. I received my... Read more
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Danielle
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. I focus on environmental sociology and critical development with a specific emphasis on climate change. My research looks at the intersections of climate change and development policies in Bangladesh and the multi-scalar inequalities revealed in their... Read more
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Samee
I am a PhD student in the Anthropology Department. My research interests include disability studies, citizenship, sovereignty, political movements, violence, war, medical anthropology, secularism, sectarianism, and Islam in Lebanon, Palestine, and the broader Middle East. I am currently researching the... Read more
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Kaustav Chakrabarti
I am a third year graduate student in the Department of Political Science. I am interested in understanding the development of political order during civil wars. I want to explore variation in the use of violent and non-violent repertoires by states to generate social control during violent conflict. I have... Read more -
Amanda
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. My research interests are in urban and political sociology. I focus on questions related to ethnic conflict, displacement, urbanization, urban social movements, and the social and political use of space by urban refugees. I hold a BA in Sociology and Peace... Read more
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Katherine Thompson
I am a PhD student in the Anthropology Department. My research interests include higher education, language ideology, popular culture, sound studies, and space and place. I focus on how Nigerian university students construct and enact ideologies of national development through engagement... Read more -
Janet Carolina Lopez
I am a graduate student in the Department of Economics at Brown University, focusing on development economics and applied microeconomics. My interests are issues of education, human capital, and gender. Specifically, I am interested in the way in which non-cognitive skills affect cognitive... Read more -
Sertac
I am a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology. My research interests include civil-military relations, spatial analysis, urbanization, infrastructures, and affect theory. My current research concerns the relationship between military power and urban as well as regional development in Turkey, ... Read more
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Ieva
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. My research interests are in social exclusion, gender inequalities in work and family, and related policies in developing countries. Currently, I am
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researching these issues in China and India. I hold an MA in Comparative Business Economics... Read more -
Hannah
I am a first year graduate student in the Political Science Department. My research focuses on the domestic and international politics of diverse Latin American countries. I am interested in questions of inequality, informal institutions, and development, particularly the rights of women, indigenous peoples, and... Read more
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Selim
I am a first year graduate student in International Relations. My research focuses on strategy and security. My interests include the theory and practice of nuclear deterrence, dynamics of nuclear proliferation, alliance politics, civil-military relations and security policy-making, particularly in the Middle East. I am... Read more
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Zhe
I am a PhD student in Department of Political Science at Brown University. My study interests mainly focus on comparative politics and international relations, especially ethnic politics and development in China. I have a MA degree in political science from Columbia University, a MA in journalism from the University of... Read more
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Aimee
I am a PhD candidate in political science. My research interests include comparative federalism and decentralization, social policy, and state-society relations. My dissertation focuses on the distributive politics of housing policy, with a focus on Mexico. Prior to coming to Brown, I earned a BSc in... Read more
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Daniel
I am a PhD student in the Department of History at Brown, studying modern Latin America.
McDonald
I am particularly interested in the intersection of social movements, consumption, and democratization. My research project focuses on grassroots urban social movements, NGOs, and the consumer rights... Read more -
Whitney
I am a PhD student in the Anthropology Department. I work on issues of tuberculosis detection programs in Ghana. My current research focuses on tuberculosis control initiatives by the Ghanaian state, focusing on access to medication and mechanisms of care for rural populations in the Central... Read more
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Kristen
I am a PhD student in the Sociology Department. My research interests are at the intersection of gender, policy, and international development: how are policy interventions in developing countries experienced differently by women and men, and how do these interventions contribute to... Read more
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Rehan Rafay Jamil
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Brown, studying comparative politic My research interests research interests include political economy of development, social policy and citizenship in South Asia. My dissertation examines the political origins and citizenship impacts of Pakistan’s largest cash transfer program targeted at... Read more -
Mahesh
I am a PhD student in the Department of Economics specializing in development economics and applied microeconomics. In particular, I am interested in issues related to education, health, migration, poverty and inequality. I have an MA in Economics from Brown University ... Read more
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Jerome
I am a third year graduate student in the Political Science Department. My research focuses on development, democratization, and human rights, as well as how these are impacted by violent non-state actors, such as drug cartels. More specifically, my research (and preliminary fieldwork) is in forced displacement and... Read more
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Shishav
I am a PhD student of Political Theory in the Political Science Department. My interests include history of political thoughts, and I make use of Post/Marxist and critical theory traditions to understand the phenomena of cultural hegemony and revolutionary violence. Currently, I am exploring the categorization of... Read more
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Alice
I am a PhD student in the Anthropology Department. I work on issues of illness, treatment, and medicine relating to infant and child health. My research explores the discursive construction of best practices of infant care in the Republic of Cabo Verde, with a specific focus on everyday ... Read more
Larotonda
