Affiliated members

​Santiago has been a PhD candidate in Economics and Social Science at the Herman Deleeck Center for Social Policy at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) since October 2020. He holds a Master's and a bachelor’s in economics from Universidad de la República (Uruguay). In his research, he studies the multidimensional measurement of well-being with a special focus on the incorporation of individual preferences. His research interests include inequality, poverty, and individual and social preferences, with publications in international journals like The Journal of Economic Inequality, The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and The Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.

​Sakura Panagamuwa Gamage is a doctoral candidate at the Center for Social Policy, University of Antwerp. Her research revolves around multidimensional poverty and well-being measures, and the implications of their use in social policy design and evaluation. More specifically, my dissertation focuses on using multidimensional poverty measures in the evaluation of conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America. Using microsimulation analyses, she studies how the use of a multidimensional evaluation measure may affect choices in the design of conditional cash transfer programs, with regards to the selection of beneficiaries and the size of the transfer, for example.

​Ella-Marie Assal is a PhD candidate at the Center for Social Policy, University of Antwerp. Her main research focuses on the evolution of income inequality in Belgium since the 1980’s and its determinants, such as demographic-, labour market- and policy changes. Her research interests include inequality, poverty, and the role of tax-benefit policies in shaping socio-economic outcomes. She holds a bachelor’s in Social-Economic sciences and a master’s in Economic Policy  (University of Antwerp).

​Alessandro is a PhD student in socio-economic studies at the Center for Social Policy Herman Deleeck. His main research interests include poverty, minimum income protection, and the effectiveness of social policy in Europe. In 2023, Alessandro was granted an FWO PhD fellowship for fundamental research to develop his project on the accessibility of the last safety nets in the EU. He holds an honors master-degree in Political Sciences at Sant’Anna School for Advanced Studies (Pisa) and a MA in Politics, Institutions and Market (University of Florence).

​Henri Haapanala is a doctoral researcher at the Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy at the University of Antwerp, focusing on the comparative analysis of trade unions, collective bargaining and their impact on labour market inequalities in Europe and the United States. He also focuses on the analysis of social and employment policies in the European Union. He has published in leading European and international journals in social-economic sciences including Social Policy & Administration, Journal of European and Social Policy, and Economic and Industrial Democracy. You can find his research on his personal website henrihaapanala.fi.

​Adriana Oliveres Mallol is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB). She holds a Double bachelor’s degree in Law and Economics from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) and a Master’s degree in Economics from KU Leuven. Adriana’s primary focus lies in exploring labour dynamics in Malawi, with an emphasis on seasonality and urbanization. She also works with satellite imagery to proxy for spatial inequality within Africa’s urban agglomerations.

​Benjamin Muhoza Kanze is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp. He is also an assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Management at the Université de Goma in the city of Goma in eastern DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). He is an alumnus of the African Economic Research Consortium program through which he did a Master of Arts in Economics at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. His recent research revolves around inequality dynamics in Africa, particularly the DRC. His PhD thesis is on the drivers of unequal development in DRC looking at the dynamics of property access in a context of rapid urbanization. He uses both qualitative and quantitative tools to understand the mechanisms that drive unequal accumulation capabilities.

​Filippo Grisolia is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp. His primary research interests, fueled by an innate passion for human development, lie in (transformative) social protection and Universal Basic Income (UBI). His present research mainly builds on the (short-, medium- and long-term) impact evaluation of universal unconditional cash transfer programs in rural Uganda, with a focus on social capital, collective action, labour and climate change adaptation effects. Before joining IOB, Filippo received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business and economics from Bocconi University, and a double master’s degree in public policy (with a specialization in social protection policy) from Maastricht University and the United Nations University-MERIT.

​Bienvenu Matungulu is a PhD student in Economics and Development jointly organised by the Catholic University of Bukavu and the University of Antwerp (Institute of Development Policy). After completing his degree in Rural Economics at the Catholic University of Bukavu, he went on to postgraduate studies in Management and Evaluation of Development Projects/Policies, culminating in a master's degree in 'Development, Evaluation and Management'. He is passionate about the question of state formation and inequalities.