Institute of Development Policy

Doctoral research

Ongoing and past PhD research at IOB

The first IOB PhD in Development Studies was awarded in 2011. This page gives an overview of all ongoing and completed PhD research.

Ongoing PhD research (alphabetical order)

Name PhD student
Title PhD
Supervisor(s)
Adolphe   Epoundè   
Policy Coherence for Development and the SDGs: how do aid‐ recipient African governments deal with contrasting donors’ policies
Nadia Molenaers
Alder Contreras Hernández 
The withering frontier: addressing the complexity of agrarian dynamics and territorial conflicts in north-east Nicaragua
Gert Van Hecken/Pierre Merlet/César García Díaz (Universidad Javeriana, Colombia)
Alina  Kiel  
Changing the Means and Meanings of Citizenship: A comparison of two bottom-up enumeration practices among Black minorities in Rio de Janeiro and Berlin
Moisés Kopper
Aloysius Ssenyonjo 
Intragovernmental coordination of multisectoral action for health: a case study of the national government in Uganda
Kristof Titeca/Bart Criel (ITG)/Sara Van Belle (ITG)/Freddie Ssengooba (Makerere University) 
Andrea Alatorre Troncoso
ePEStemology: towards a consolidation of social and ecological integrity for conservation and development in Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)
Gert Van Hecken/Jerome Dupras (Université du Québec en Outaouais)
Asif (Muhammad) Basar 
The Bhola cyclone of 1970: the politics of disaster and aid in the divided nation of Pakistan
Nadia Molenaers
Baudouin Mena Sebu 
Power, religion, and the resurgence of customary authority in Haut-Uele (1999-2020)
Kristof Titeca
Benjamin  Muhoza Kanze
Drivers of unequal development in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Tom De Herdt/Kamala Kaghoma (UCB)/Tim Soens (UA)
Berta Fernández Nuez
Effects of everyday data tactics in Kenya and Tanzania development policy initiatives through the lens of a capabilities methodology and digital co-creative tools
Moisés Kopper
Bienvenu Matungulu
Taxation, hybrid state and inequality in the DRC
Tom De Herdt/Kamala Kaghoma (UCB) 
Cassandra Vet 
The architecture of profit-shifting: state-power and interest for collective action. An analysis in the production and articulation for global governance
Danny Cassimon/Anne Van de Vijver (FRECH)
Danya Nadar 
When global threats meet localized practices: Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) vs. recognition and regeneration of ecosystem knowledge in Nicaragua and Guatemala
Tomaso Ferrando/Jennifer Casolo
Denis Augustin Samnick 
Social actions and interactions around the daily public governance of prisons in Africa: a comparative ethnography between Cameroon and the DRC
Tom De Herdt/Sara Liwerant (University of Kinshasa)
Diana  Tiholaz 
Community Based Monitoring and its spillover effects: from anecdote to evidence
Nathalie Holvoet
Divin-Luc  Bikubanya
(De) industrialisation and supply chain governance in the construction sector in Africa’s Great Lake Region
Sara Geenen
Eliane Giezendanner 
From combatant to loyal party member or disillusioneddefector? A case study on CNDD-FDD ex-combatants in Burundi
Kristof Titeca
Eugenia Robles Mengoa
An in-depth study of informalization processes in global gold production: case studies on Colombia and the Philippines
Sara Geenen/Boris Verbrugge (KUL)
Filippo Grisolia 
One for all and all for cash? An inquiry into social network and collective action effects of cash transfers in rural Uganda
Nathalie Holvoet/Sara Dewachter
Hadassah Arian
Questioning legitimacy in the responsible cobalt assemblage
Sara Geenen/Sarah Katz-Lavigne 
Hanne Van Cappellen 
The city is not that far: urbanisation, social change and rural labour patterns in sub-Saharan Africa
Joachim De Weerdt
Héctor Herrera 
Green City Bonds for climate change adaptation and mitigation projects in Latin America and Africa : a comparative analysis of processes, regulations, and implications
Tomaso Ferrando
Ivan Ashaba 
Environmental crime as transnational organized crime: a case of wildlife trade in Uganda
Kristof Titeca/Esther Marijnen (UGent)
Joseph Le Grand Bahati 
Labour in the construction sector and its supply chain: The socio-economic impact of handmade urbanism in Bukavu
Sara Geenen/Marijke Verpoorten/Marie-Rose Bashwira (UCB)
Juan Sebastian Velez Triana 
Neoliberal conservation and hybrid resistances in Colombia: a scalar political ecology of environmental governance and social-ecological change in the Andean-Amazonian conservation corridor
Gert Van Hecken
Mahar  Musleh  
A Comparative Study of Miskito Indigenous Community and Badouin Communities at Beer el-Sebe: Space Construction and Forced urbanization as a Colonial Tool
Gert Van Hecken
Mark Kadigo 
Policy responses and coping strategies in refugee-hosting populations in Africa: a multidisciplinary and multidimensional study on the refugees and their hosts in Sub-Saharan Africa
Olivier Sterck/Jean-François Maystadt (UCLL)
Milagros Romero López
Heterogeneities of farmers rationalities and territorial development pathways: perspectives for ‘microfinance plus’ models in Nicaragua
Johan Bastiaensen/Gert Van Hecken/Pierre Merlet
Mollie Gleiberman 
Predict and control: mobilizing the past and future to shape development policy, planning, and scholarship
Sara Geenen
Olivier   Bahati Mastaki
Civil servants’ payment and recruitment in donor darling sectors: the case of the ministries of environment and planning in the DRC
Tom De Herdt/Kristof Titeca/Stylianos Moshonas
Paulin  Balungwe Shamavu
Civil servants' human resource management practices and administrative work in congolese public administration
Tom De Herdt/Stylianos Moshonas/Albert Malukisa
Réginas Ndayiragije 
Institutional engineering in divided societies: power-sharing and political representation in Burundi
Stef Vandeginste/Marijke Verpoorten
René Rodriguez Fabilena
Towards a power-sensitive and socially-informed analysis of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). Comparative case studies in Nicaragua and Guatemala
Gert Van Hecken/Jennifer Casolo
Roos Derrix
The multi-levelled politics of national refugee policies: A case study of Uganda
Kristof Titeca/Milena Belloni (UGent)
Solomon Mwije 
Towards Extreme Participatory M&E? Assessing Global South Community Based Monitoring and Citizen Science (CMCS) Initiatives from an Inclusion Lens: Perspectives from Uganda
Nathalie Holvoet/Sara Dewachter
Stephanie Garcidueñas Nieto
Green municipal bonds as a climate finance instrument: a comparative analysis of its issuance process and implementation from a North and South context 
Nadia Molenaers
Valentin   Poponete
Evaluating the effectiveness of international security force assistance in conflict-affected countries
Nadia Molenaers

Completed doctoral research (chronological order)

Name PhD student
Date public PhD defence
Title PhD thesis
Supervisor(s)
Aloysius Ssennyonjo
25/03/2024
Kristof Titeca / Bart Criel (ITG) / Sara Van Belle (ITG) / Freddie Ssengooba (Makerere University) 
Doreen Kyando
15/02/2024
Nathalie Holvoet / Sara Dewachter / Christina Shitima (Mzumbe University)
Simon Marijsse
8/05/2023
Sara Geenen / Boris Verbruggen (KU Leuven) / Filip De Boeck (KU Leuven)
Evert Waeterloos
2/05/2023
Nadia Molenaers
Fergus Simpson
3/10/2022
Sara Geenen / Kristof Titeca
Francine Iragi Mukotanyi
9/06/2022
Sara Geenen / Marijke Verpoorten / Alice Mufungizi Nabintu (Université catholique de Bukavu)

Sarah Vancluysen
30/11/2021
Bert Ingelaere / Kristof Titeca
Pierre Merlet
18/11/2021
Johan Bastiaensen 
Antea Paviotti
17/09/2021
Bert Ingelaere / Stef Vandeginste
Lisa Popelier
18/01/2021
Nathalie Holvoet
Tobias Gandrup
23/10/2020
Making schools: primary education, governance and the state in Somaliland
Tom De Herdt / Kristof Titeca
Micha Wiebusch
28/09/2020
Constitution building in the African Union - law, policy and practice
Stef Vandeginste 
Catherine Windey
7/09/2020
From geocoded to entangled landscape: forests, REDD+ environmental rule and everyday practices in DR Congo 
Johan Bastiaensen / Gert Van Hecken
Mathias De Roeck
10/10/2019
Power to Decouple. Hybrid Regimes in the International System: A Multimethod Analysis
Nadia Molenaers / Ronan Van Rossem (UGent)
Frédéric Huybrechs
30/11/2018
A political ecology approach to green microfinance. Development pathways and avenues for transformative microfinance for rural development
Johan Bastiaensen / Gert Van Hecken
Christina Shitima
16/11/2018
An analysis of household development strategies and their linkage to river basin resources degradation in Tanzania
Nathalie Holvoet / Romanus Dimoso (Mzumbe University)
Dimitri Renmans
29/08/2018
Opening the ‘black box’ of performance-based financing in the healthcare sector of western Uganda
Nathalie Holvoet / Bart Criel / Christopher Garimoi Orach (Makerere University)
Francis Mbunya
7/06/2018
In Search of the Environment-Development Nexus in Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, Cameroon
Tom De Herdt / Tom Vanwing / George Chuyong  
Janvier Kilosho
5/04/2018
Industrialisation et Traçabilité minières au Sud-Kivu : Quel avenir pour les exploitants miniers artisanaux ?
Marijke Verpoorten / Jean-Baptiste Ntagoma Kushinganine
Ntagahoraho Burihabwa
17/03/2017
‘Continuity and Contingency’ - The CNDD-FDD and its transformation from rebel movement to governing political party in Burundi
Filip Reyntjens / Stef Vandeginste
Klara Claessens
6/03/2017
Land, Access and Power. Case studies from Kalehe, DRC
Filip Reyntjens / Tom De Herdt / An Ansoms 
Albert Malukisa
16/02/2017
La gouvernance réelle du transport en commun à Kinshasa : la prééminence des normes pratiques sur les normes officielles 
Tom De Herdt / Kristof Titeca / Philémon Muamba 
Patricia Bamanyaki
20/12/2016
Evaluating effects of local-level outside government gender budget initiatives in maternal health.
Nathalie Holvoet / Henry Manyire 
Katrien Van Aelst
3/10/2016
Gender, households and climate change. Adaptation decision-making in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania.
Nathalie Holvoet / Ann Crabbé
Nanneke Winters
24/03/2016
Contested connections. Mobility and migration as development experiences of translocal livelihoods in Muy Muy, Nicaragua
Johan Bastiaensen 
Selmira Flores
17/12/2015
Gender dynamics in dairy value chains in Nicaragua. Current practices, changes and challenges
Johan Bastiaensen 
Tri Ha Minh
16/02/2015
An analysis of influence of evaluation in the context of socio-economic development plan (SEDP) implementation in Vietnam - the case of Hai Lang district, Quang Tri Province
Nathalie Holvoet
Marie Gildemyn
20/11/2014
From signposting to straightening crooked paths the role and influence of civil society organisations that are involved in the monitoring and evaluation of government programmes and policies in Ghana
Nathalie Holvoet
Inge Wagemakers
17/06/2014
The periphery revisited: understanding local urban governance in the context of rapid urban expansion and weak state institutions in Kinshasa
Tom De Herdt
Sara Geenen
5/05/2014
Qui cherche, trouve’. The political economy of access to gold mining and trade in South Kivu, DRC
Filip Reyntjens
Bert Ingelaere
19/12/2012
Peasants, Power and the Past. The Gacaca Courts and Rwanda’s Transition From Below
Filip Reyntjens
Gert Van Hecken
17/05/2011
Payments for environmental services and governance of natural resources for rural communities: beyond the market-based model - an institutional approach. Case studies from Nicaragua
Johan Bastiaensen