Development Studies

Research Team

Head

Pedro Conceição
Director
pedro.conceicao@undp.org

Along with the team at UNDP’s Office of Development Studies, Pedro has been working on identifying the possible impact of the global economic crisis on developing countries. He has also worked recently on the food crisis, on climate change and development, and on the evolution of income distribution across and within countries. Earlier work on financing for development and on global public goods was published by Oxford University Press in books he co-edited (The New Public Finance: Responding to Global Challenges, 2006; Providing Global Public Goods: Managing Globalization, 2003). He has published, amongst others journals, in the Review of Development Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, Ecological Economics, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. He was deputy director of the office from 2001 to 2005. Previously, he was an assistant professor at the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, teaching and researching on science, technology and innovation policy. He has degrees in Physics and in Economics from the Technical University of Lisbon and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin.

Team Members

(In alphabetical order)

Flora Aller
Administrative Associate
flora.aller@undp.org

Prior to joining UNDP in 1985, Flora was the Administrative Executive Assistant to the Ambassador of Peru to the United Nations.

Viridiana Garcia
Programme Analyst
viridiana.garcia@undp.org

Viridiana's research interests include poverty reduction strategies and human development measurement. Prior to joining ODS, she worked for the French Ministry of Finance, and as a Public Sector Consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. She also participated in Development Policy Evaluation Programmes for the Jameel Poverty Action Lab. She holds a degree in Public Affairs from Sciences Po Paris, and a Master degree in Population and Development from the London School of Economics, and studied Public Policy and Development Economics at the Paris School of Economics.

Nergis Gulasan
Policy Analyst
nergis.gulasan@undp.org

Nergis’s current research interests include development financing and resource mobilization. Prior to joining ODS, she worked in the UNDP Executive Office as a research associate from 2007 to 2009. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, and an M.Sc. in Economics from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, Spain, where she worked as a teaching assistant. She also holds an M.A. in European Politics and Policy from New York University (NYU) and studied at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University.

Thierry Soret
Policy Advisor
thierry.soret@undp.org

As a political scientist, Thierry’s main interests include global and democratic governance issues. Prior to joining ODS, he was the General Delegate of the European Think Tank Confrontations-Europe working on institutional and democratic reforms of the European Union. Previously, he was a Policy Advisor in charge of theoretical studies on international relations and globalization within the French socialist party and several NGOs. He was admitted at the National School of Administration (ENA), Paris. He holds a Master Degree in Political Science and International Relations from ‘Sciences Po’ Paris, and a degree in Philosophy (licence) from the Paris XII University.

Nina Thelen
Policy Analyst
nina.thelen@undp.org

Nina’s current research interests include market-based strategies to reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), social policies and measuring progress of societies. Before joining ODS in 2006, she worked in the Department of Foreign Trade at the German-Brazilian Chamber of Industry and Commerce in São Paulo, Brazil. She holds a graduate degree in International Economics with specialization in Latin America from Tuebingen University, Germany, where she worked as a research assistant.

Yanchun Zhang
Policy Specialist
yanchun.zhang@undp.org

Yanchun’s current research interests include international macroeconomics, climate change and development, economic vulnerabilities, and social policies. Her research articles have been published in refereed academic and policy journals. Prior to joining ODS, she was an assistant professor at San Francisco State University, teaching and researching on macroeconomics, money and banking, international economics and econometrics. She majored in international finance and graduated with a B.A. degree in Economics from Shanghai Fudan University, China, and an M.A. and Ph.D. degree in Economics from University of Virginia with fields of specialization in international economics, economic development and econometrics.