• Research Interests, Grants and Projects
Research Interests:
•    Nutrition and Health 
•    Evaluation of Public Policies
•    Nutririon and Health Economics
•    Applied Econometrics, Panel Data Analysis
•    Savings and Investment under Risk. Application of Real-options Theory

  • Research Grants
Currently involved as a CoI in the GCRF research grant (£9.0m) entitled 'DAMS 2.0: Design and assessment of resilient and sustainable interventions in water-energy-food environment Mega-systems.

The University of Manchester Research Institute (UMRI) - Pump Priming Programme  (the University of Manchester)
Title:" The Faculty of Humanities’ Special Seminar Series on the Multidisciplinary Impact Evaluation of International Development (organised by BWPI, IDPM (SEED) and Economics DA (SoSS))" (with  Prof. David Hulme (BWPI), Prof. Kunal Sen (IDPM) and Dr  Ralitza Dimova (IDPM)).  Amount: £11,210.00. Period:  15th January 2014  - 15th July 2014.  

I have been involved in the Research Proposal  by IFAD, the United Nations and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), the Government of LAO PDR to help establish an independent think tank with the capacity to guide the country towards economic prosperity and poverty alleviation (with Dr Samuel Annim, a senior lecturer at University of Cape Coast, Ghana and an external associate of BWPI). The first phase (October 2012-December 2013) highlights the relationship between food security and nutrition and aims to provide capacity building to the local research team through collaborative research. Other issues to be explored in the future include 1) commercial agriculture, 2) market access, and 3) sustainable development of Northern Uplands (see the news section on the BWPI website).

I recently worked on the ESRC funded Research Project entitled ‘On the Change of Poverty and Undernutrition in Rural India’ by the ESRC as a principal investigator (1st July 2010- 30th December 2011, £59,473). Overseas collaborators/ consultants are
Raghav Gaiha (University of Delhi), Raghbendra Jha (Australian National University) and Veena S. Kulkarni (Arkansas State University). Woojin Kang will work as a research officer for the project. See more detailsSee Press Release from our ESRC project "Economic Growth will not feed the hungry, say researchers" (this news has been featured by many sites, including ESRC, Think India Foundation, Medical Xpress). See also end of award report (on ESRC website).

Other Research Grants

*The research grant of US$15,000 by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) to carry out the research on "Integrated Financial Services and Child Nutrition: Are there any spill-over effects? Evidence from Ghana" (with 
Samuel Kobina Annim) in the context of the AERC Collaborative project on "Health, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Project" (1st June 2010- 30th April 2011). In view of the Project's broad aim to build up the North-South cademic research collaboration, their research will strengthen the link between Manchester University and University of Cape Coast in Ghana.

*The Research Grant from AUSAID and Australian Social Science Research Council for the project entitled, ‘Nutrition Poverty Traps, Workfare and PDS (Public Distribution System)’(with Raghbendra Jha (Australian National University) and Raghav Gaiha (University of Delhi), April 2007- March 2010, £320,800; AUD 800,000.  

*Research Grant from Chronic Research Poverty Centre in the UK, entitled ‘Vulnerability and Poverty Dynamics in India, Vietnam and Bangladesh’ (the main investigator) with Raghbendra Jha (Australian National University) and Raghav Gaiha (Harvard University & University of Delhi), April 2008- March 2010, (£10,000).

*DFID Project 'Poverty Traps, Nutrition, Health Status and Anti-Poverty Interventions in Rural India' (Serves as a Lead Researcher, with Prof. Raghbendra Jha (Australian National University) and Prof. Raghav Gaiha (University of Delhi), April 2002- March 2006,DFID grant R8121,£51,000).

*The Project to investigate the determinants of fertility in India using NSS and NFHS data (with Dr Takahiro Sato, RIEB, Kobe University).  
  • Recent Projects:
•    Project on Rural Development, Structural Transformation and Inequality in Asia (December 2015-) (funded by IFAD, the United Nations).
•    Project on Rural and Urban Poverty Dynamics in Developing Countries (with R. Gaiha, G. Abekah-Nkrumah, G., and P. Purohit) (November 2013-March 2014) (funded by IFAD, the United Nations).
•    Project on food security and nutrition on Laos (see above the grant section) (with Samuel Annim) (October 2012-March 2014) (funded by IFAD, the United Nations & the Government of LAO PDR).
•    Project on Farm Non-Farm linkages, Employment and Wages, and Pathway Out of Rural Poverty (with Raghav Gaiha) (funded by IFAD, the United Nations)
•    Project on poverty, vulnerability and survival strategy of rural households in India (with Raghav Gaiha and Pasquale Scandizzo)
•    Project on Malnutrition and Community Support in Nepal and Papua New Guinea (with Per Eklund and Fabrizio Felloni)
•    Project on the Assessment of Millennium Development Goals (with Raghav Gaiha)

•    Evaluation of Microfinance Programmes in Asian Countries (the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, the UN)
•    Role of Fiscal Policy of Asian Countries under Crisis (the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, the United Nations)
•    The effects of price changes on agricultural development and poverty
(the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, the United Nations)
•    The determinants of non-farm activities and poverty in Asian Countries (the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, the United Nations)
•    Evaluations of Determinants of Agricultural Growth, Employment and Wages in Developing Countries (the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, the United Nations)

•    Evaluations of Vulnerability and Poverty in Developing Countries (the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, the United Nations)

•    Evaluations of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in India (DFID)

•    Evaluations of Rural Public Works in India (the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, the United Nations)

•    Economic consultant for the UN projects on community ownership of household food and nutrition security interventions in Nepal (the IFAD, the United Nations)

•    Assessment of the Feasibility of Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (the IFAD, the United Nations)

•    Role of Institutional Development in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (the IFAD, the United Nations)

Experience as a Referee: 


-Served as one of the referees for the replication project applications submitted to 3ie (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation) (November-December 2016).
-Served as a referee for the book published by Springer (August 2016). 
-Served as a referee for the IMMANA Fellowship Proposal for Tufts University (March 2015). 
-Served as a reviewer for 2 research grant applications for ESRC grant call "Europe-China call for collaborative research on the Green Economy and Understanding Population Change" (April-May 2014).
-Served as a reviewer for 8 outline grant applications for DFID-ESRC research grant call on poverty alleviation (assessor's group)  (March-April 2014).
-Served as a sole anonymous referee for the book published by Routledge (on development studies).  
-Served as a referee for the research grant applications for the ESRC (May 2009, Dec 2012, March 2013, Sep 2013)
-Served as a referee for the end-of-the report for ESRC or DFID Grants (August 2003, January 2006, August 2008, August 2010,March 2012, Sep 2012).   
-Served as a referee for the WIDER Jubilee special publication (Nov 2005).                        

-Served as a referee for The Economic Journal, Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford Development Studies (7 times), Environment and Development Economics, Labour Economics, Journal of Development Studies (10 times), Journal of African Economies (5 times), Manchester School (5 times), World Development (14 times), Food Policy (5 times), Review of Development Economics (3 times), Empirical Economics(3 times) Journal of Economic Surveys, Development Policy Review, Economic Change and Restructuring, International Journal of Finance & Economics, Journal of South Asian Development, Natural Resources Forum, Journal of International Development (6 times), Asian Economic Journal, International Review of Applied Economics (10 times), European Journal of Development Research (8 times), Journal of Asian Economics (2 times), Asian Population Studies (2 times), Food Security, Journal of Poverty (3 times), Journal of Asian and African Studies (3 times)Journal of Applied Research on Children, Journal of Aging & Social Policy, Small Businesss Economics, Development Studies Research (4 times), B.E.Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, B.E.Journal of Macroeconomics, Social Indicators Research, Journal of Rural Studies, China Economic Review, Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Journal of South Asian Development, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Economic Modelling, Sociolody of DevelopmentScience Advances, and International Migration Review (NB: Number does not include the review of resubmitted articles).


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