Dr Dirk Willem te Velde is the programme leader of the Investment and Growth Programme. His interests include economic growth, foreign direct investment effects and policies; trade in services; the WTO, regional integration and impact assessments; public goods; Africa and the Caribbean.
Yurendra Basnett is a development economist specialising in trade and development policies. He has over seven years of experience advising governments, UN agencies and donors on Aid for Trade, WTO negotiations, regional trade agreements (such as Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus, East African Community, Economic Partnership Agreement and South Asian Free Trade Agreement), trade capacity building, and trade and human development. He has worked in Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Namibia, Nepal, Vanuatu, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. He is also reading for his PhD in political economy of development at the University of Cambridge with Dr. Ha-Joon Chang. His thesis is on how institutions governing labour mobility function at regional, bilateral and global levels, and with what implications for economic development and poverty reduction.
Zhenbo will be working on the BRICS and development as well as global governance issues from IEDG. He is fluent in Mandarin.
Jodie Keane is a Research Fellow with the Trade Program, International Economic Development Group, since 2007. She is a Trade Policy Analyst and Economist working on EU Trade Policy with Developing Countries. Her research interests include: new trade-new growth theory; comparative analysis of GVCs; regional integration; and, climate change. Prior to joining ODI Jodie worked as a Development Economist in Vietnam, Cambodia and China. She has an MSc. in the Political Economy of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, a BA in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia, and is currently registered as a PhD candidate in Development Economics, at SOAS.
Christian Kingombe earned his B.Sc.(1997) & M.Sc.(2002) from the Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has completed a Ph.D. from University of London (2010).
Christian Kingombe has previously worked as a consultant for numerous international organisations: UNCTAD, UNECE, and ILO, the OECD, the World Bank, and the European Commission.
Research Interests: Trade Facilitation (A4T); Trade in Services.
Dr Isabella Massa has policy-oriented research experience, in particular with respect to African countries. Before joining ODI, she has worked as an Economist (FIP) at the International Monetary Fund within the Middle East and Central Asia Department, and has developed an extensive academic experience as research assistant and instructor in different international universities. Her research interests focus on private capital flows, stock markets development and economic growth. She has published in the Emerging Markets Review, African Development Review, Applied Financial Economics, International Review of Financial Analysis and in institutional working papers as well as occasional papers. She has a PhD in Economics and Organization at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Italy.
Massimiliano Calì is a development economist, and his current research focuses on the relation between trade, development and growth, on the effects of migration on source countries, and on the determinants and implications of urbanisation in developing countries.
Public expenditure and financial management; governance and accountability; public sector reform; decentralisation and sub-national PFM; political economy of reform processes; institutional development; capacity building.
Christopher Stevens' research focuses on the impact of Northern policies on the South, particulary those relating directly or indirectly to trade.