Research

Recent Projects

Jacobs Foundation Fellowship Projects

As a Jacobs Research Fellow, I aim to shed light on dynamics of youth development and educational inequalities adopting a multi-stage, multi-perspective, and multi-country approach leveraging my theoretical skills as demographer and sociologist, empirical skills as applied social scientist versatile in a variety of methods (including big data and machine learning), and expertise as policymaker in the educational arena. I envision working primarily on three projects, each of which will approach the study of educational inequalities from a different angle, moving progressively from macro- to micro-level analyses.

First, I will expand the study of the intergenerational implications of parental educational similarity (”assortative mating”) for child health/wellbeing from birth to adolescence across 30+ low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Second, I will explore whether schools can serve as the great equalizers in LMICs obtaining “seasonal estimates” and comparing socioeconomic gaps in skills when school is in effect with gaps when school is not in effect (e.g., summer) — and simulate how these have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Third, I will explore whether digital technologies may contribute to reducing learning losses and narrowing socioeconomic inequalities across students and reflect on potential interventions (RCTs). In parallel, I am looking forward to kickstarting new projects with other Fellows.