Kiel Institute expands research on development policy

"We see considerable interest in international development issues, particularly with regard to Africa, both in research and in policy advice. Tobias Heidland will build on existing structures in Kiel and expand the team and the range of topics. We would like to become even more present in the international research landscape in this area and support politicians with concrete solution proposals in the areas of development and migration," said Kiel Institute President Gabriel Felbermayr.

After completing his doctorate in 2015, Heidland conducted research at the Kiel Institute in the research center "Poverty Reduction and Development" (now "International Development") and at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) in the department "International Economics". His main research foci are on migration and foreign exchange markets. He has received several awards for his work, including the Leibniz Association's dissertation prize, the Erich Schneider Prize for the best dissertation in economics at CAU and the VFSX Best Paper Award of the Vienna Symposium on Foreign Exchange Markets. Heidland advised the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Bank in various projects.

"We are pleased to have won Tobias Heidland, an excellent researcher, to head the research center. His appointment also shows what scientific career opportunities can open up for researchers at the Kiel Institute," said Felbermayr.

"With the experienced team at the Kiel Institute and a number of new researchers to be hired, we want to put a focus on new trends in economic migration research and other areas of development policy and meet the need for advice from politicians, for example on relations between Europe and Africa. I am also pleased to teach these topics in my courses at the CAU," said Tobias Heidland.   

The Kiel Institute will focus its development and migration research activities in the research center "International Development". Professor Rainer Thiele, previously head of the research center "Poverty Reduction and Development", will head the Kiel Institute Africa Initiative and also serve as deputy head of the new center. This initiative will establish a network of mostly economic experts who will exchange research findings, work on joint projects and advise policymakers.

The research center is also closely linked to the Poverty Reduction, Equity and Growth Network (PEGNet), which aims to improve the exchange between researchers and practitioners of development cooperation from Europe and Africa, the Mercator Dialogue on Asylum and Migration (MEDAM), which has a focus on European migration policy, and the Kiel Centre for Globalization, which examines global supply chains involving developing countries.