Global Prosperity MPhil/PhD students

Maria investigates how mixed play can enable displaced children to socially interact and develop resilience. Play has been repeatingly shown to enable essential child development skills of interacting with others, creativity and resilience. This is of particular importance for displaced children who experience trauma that can hinder their ability to learn and socially interact. However provision for sustainable play areas is frequently not prioritised in policies and resources targeted at displaced children. I plan to work with displaced refugee children in Europe, Africa & Lebanon, drawing on sustainable design principles influenced by child development and environmental psychology.

Her research investigates the role of young people as intermediaries in processes of sustainable transition in Indonesia. Whilst the importance of intermediary organisations in guaranteeing youth agency is recognised, very little is known on how they operate and what makes them effective. Thus, the goal of this research is to explain their practices. The findings of this study will contribute to illuminating the fundamental role of intermediary organisations in ensuring inclusive citizen-based planning processes, in reducing urban inequality and, ultimately, in bringing about policy-making processes that are transparent, accountable and democratic in Indonesia. 

Shinta was a Hubert H. Humphrey's fellow at the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies at MIT, where she focused her research on digital media as a strategy for community engagement, education and empowerment.

Hadiq's research will focus on the human and material cultures of refuge in Lebanon. In particular, she will be looking at the material, environmental and visual cultures of forced migration in the context of the mass displacement from Syria, attemptig to give voice to refugees who often exist in ephemeral spaces, while also trying to document their experiences through the analysis of the landscape which they occupy and the material culture they possess. Hadiqa's project is funded via the AHRC's Collaborative Doctoral Programme, and her partner heritage organisation is the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Her background is in anthropology, archaeology and heritage studies, with an MPhil in Archaeology from the University of Oxford, and a BSc (Honours) in Anthropology and Sociology from the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Through an in-depth ethnographic and participatory approach, Natalie's research explores how a refugee population in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon creates an ecosystem which challenges the humanitarian status quo and common perceptions surrounding refugee capabilities. She documents their non-linear pathways towards prosperity through photography, narrative and longitudinal participant observation; utilizing case studies to present complex urban and encamped realities. This includes an exploration of how Multi-Aid Programs, a refugee-led organization, leverages innovation and creativity to foster prosperity. She focuses on local definitions and strategies for building ‘community dignity’ and strengthened social networks, essential to living well in mass displacement. These discussions are juxtaposed with the harmful effects of the humanitarian industrial complex, strengthening the impact of my research on global refugee policy.

Natalie's research advocates for the radical re-shaping for how we value, support and identify social progress in a protracted refugee crisis. The project can improve quality of lives for refugees worldwide by informing the development of holistic and evidence-based humanitarian frameworks and interventions.

Adrien’s research centres on the concept of ‘frugal abundance’, which applies to societies in which everyone lives well without consuming too much. He is carrying out participatory and mixed method research with rural and indigenous communities in Kenya and Iceland to better understand what frugal abundance means for them, how it works in practice and how they think that this way of life could flourish elsewhere.

Adrien considers himself as a researcher-activist involved in the degrowth movement. He is a member of the editorial collective of the Degrowth Journal and a founding member of Degrowth London. He has previously worked in NGOs on social-environmental topics after transitioning from mathematics to the social sciences.

Shuaib researches the everyday experiences of new financial technology (fintech) – whilst recognizing its ‘financializing’ tendencies of employing algorithms to extract the data of global south borrowers who lack credit histories and proper tax records – and is based on six months of fieldwork in Nigeria.

In particular, he investigates the dynamics of fintech adoption and adaptation from the perspective of users, and emerging patterns of resistance to financialized inclusion as a result of fintech usage. Shuaib’s research contributes to the analysis of the power dynamics and impact of fintech on everyday life.

Before starting his PhD, Shuaib worked as a Graduate Attaché at the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA). He also had previous stints at Buyu Microfinance and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), both in Nigeria. Shuaib holds an MSc in Global Prosperity with distinction from UCL and a BSc from the American University of Nigeria.

Sebastian´s research aims to contribute to the growing body of literature on alternatives to address and bridge the housing finance gap. This research intends to assess how digital innovation and IT technologies can contribute to new ways of creating reliable data to mitigate the unfair risk perceptions of Formal Financial Institutions when assessing low-income segments. In that sense, Sebastian is also studying the linkage between Transformative Innovation and Prosperity. This research is being supervised by Dr. Christopher Harker and Lucia Michelutti

Sebastian has a background in Urbanism, Housing policies and social entrepreneurship. He is Co-founder of MUTUO, a social venture focused in delivering housing Technical and Financial assistance to Low-income families in Lima. Also, he has experience in international development Consultancy on the topics of housing policy, public and private Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He has a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from UPC in Lima and a MSc in Development Administration and Planning from the DPU at UCL. In the Academia, Sebastian has experience as an Undergraduate Main Teacher for the Faculty of Design in UPC.

Almeira Parruque is a Commonwealth Scholar from Mozambique, pursuing a PhD at the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity and researching the effects of financial inclusion programmes on prosperity among people in vulnerable circumstances in her country. With this research she aims to propose a critical financial inclusion model for sustainable interventions, that contributes to building the pathways to prosperity at local and global levels.

Almeira has 10 years' work experience in the financial sector. Her previous roles include working in the operations of the Mozambique Stock Exchange and most recently, as an investment analyst for FSDMoç, a program aimed at improving the levels of financial inclusion, also in Mozambique.

Almeira holds a Master of Leadership and Organizations with a sustainable development focus, and a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Gulnar Hasnain's research focuses on how cities tackle urban violence. She is particularly interested in the role that mayoral leadership, city governance structures and stakeholder relationships play in how cities tackle urban violence and how they relate to the kinds of violence reduction policies that are taken up and the form that they take. Gulnar's research is situated within the theories of social policy, policy mobilities, urban governance and leadership, with the empirical focus of her exploration on the adoption of urban violence prevention strategies in London and specifically London’s Violence Reduction Unit, which was established in 2018.  

Gulnar holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London, an MSc in Development Studies from Birkbeck University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. After initially developing her career in the private sector, she spent 8 years working in city government for the Mayor of London and over 7 years as a political candidate campaigning for ‘safer, greener, fairer’ cities.

Yuwei Qiu is supervised by Professor Maurizio Marinelli, and Dr. Yuan He.

She has a specific focus on the trade of art products between China and Western countries. She delves into the lives and livelihoods of laborers employed in the Canton Export painting industry during the 19th century, using a micro-historical perspective to delve deep into their beliefs and behaviours in their pursuit of prosperity within the urban landscapes. This research centres around the remarkable Guan family—a renowned family that embarked on their export painting business at No. 16 New China Street in Canton towards the end of the eighteenth century. Yuwei's primary research question explores how these consequential historical events, such as Opium War, influenced and stimulated individual consciousness and the innovative strategies they employed to secure their livelihoods amidst shifting social dynamics and evolving China-West relations.

She completed her undergraduate education at Wuhan University. Following that, she pursued two master's degrees in the United Kingdom, the first one at the University of Bristol and the second at the University of Warwick. Both of my master's degrees focused on art history, albeit from two different historical periods.

Sijia is a PhD candidate supervised by Professor Marinelli and Dr Mintchev at the IGP. Her research examines the societal impact of the Sanxingdui archaeological discoveries and the interrelationship between heritage and nationalism in China at both the micro and macro levels. It aims to investigate how collective memories and identity in China are constructed and consumed, using the Sanxingdui heritage site as the primary case study. Furthermore, it seeks to delineate the societal transitions within local communities, ultimately contributing to the conceptualisation of a sustainable and inclusive future.

Sijia holds a Master of Arts degree in International Cultural Heritage Management from Durham University and a Bachelor's degree from Budapest Business School. Her academic pursuits reflect her multidisciplinary interests. Her prior research has explored the inclusivity of heritage sites associated with the Berlin Wall, and she has also investigated intangible heritage in Singapore, focusing on traditional crafts.

Shiyao's research is centered on the discourse analysis of climate change communication, with a specific focus on metaphor analysis and eco-gender gaps. Her objective is to investigate the impact of gendered metaphors in climate change communication on proenvironmental behavior, self-identity, and decision-making for both genders. Through her research, Shiyao aims to encourage reflection on conventional gendered climate change communication strategies, highlight the existing gender disciplines they conveys, and disrupt gender stereotypes. Moreover, she seeks to draw attention to the fact that women experience greater ecological anxiety and bear a disproportionate burden of climate change impacts, emphasizing the need for reshaping subjective thoughts to promote gender climate justice.

Ziqi Gao is currently pursuing her PhD under the guidance of Professor Kate Maclean, Dr. Yuan He, and Dr. Jennifer Chung.

Ziqi's research delves into the influence of higher education on the social mobility of women in rural China. The core aim of her research is to unravel the sociocultural, economic, and institutional factors that either facilitate or hinder upward mobility. By scrutinizing the interplay between higher education and social mobility among this underrepresented group, Ziqi aims to offer a more nuanced perspective on promoting gender equality and inclusion within the distinctive backdrop of China's evolving society.

Joseph is a PhD student supervised by Dr Ida Kubiszewski and Professor Robert Constanza at the Institute for Global Prosperity. His PhD research aims to incorporate planetary boundaries into measures of wellbeing to calculate the global level of prosperity that could be sustainably maintained.  

Joseph holds a BA in Philosophy and Politics from UEA (University of East Anglia) and an MSc in Global Environment, Politics and Society from the University of Edinburgh. He has previously worked for the Green House Think Tank, and is a contractor to the Climate Majority Project.  

Tianchu is supervised by Professor Robert Costanza and Associate Professor Ida Kubiszewski. Her PhD research aims to map the conceptual framework of agrifood transformation, with a focus on livestock sectors in the UK and Inner Mongolia. Employing a mixed methodology, her research attempts to identify the potential drivers of agricultural lock-in and the levers for transformation in different agrifood landscapes. She hopes her research can facilitate communication of livestock farmers, herders and consumers’ incentives and obstacles to change. Her PhD research is motivated by her broader interest in societal transitions.

Tianchu has a background in systems thinking, system dynamics, food systems and rangeland management. She holds an MPhil from the University of Queensland (Australia), a Master of Environmental Management and Development with merit and a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University. 

Alina dedicates her research to creating pathways for prosperity for informal plastic recyclers and waste workers, who significantly contribute to a circular plastic economy, but are not recognized for their contribution fairly.  They face harsh working conditions, low wages, and social stigma. Leaving them in a state of un-prosperity and lack of fair participation in the benefits of a circular economy. The thesis aims to develop an actionable intervention designed by the informal recyclers (à prosperity co-creation guide), yet including a broad range of stakeholders to test how prosperity in the informal plastic recycling ecosystem can be created. This study's research question is: "How can a guided system change approach create prosperity among marginalized groups in the informal plastic recycling ecosystem (IPRE)?" The terminology of ecosystem deliberately creates a global connectedness between local waste workers and global actors, especially brands using recycled material.  

The research moves beyond an observational approach to prosperity. It includes the prosperity index developed at IGP as a design component for the prosperity co-creation guide through which the system stakeholders design an intervention for pathways to prosperity – specifically focusing on the most marginalized in the system. The guide is road-tested in Nairobi, Kenya, to test its practical impact and potential for replication. The research is centered in Nairobi, Kenya. A data-driven conclusion can be derived through the prosperity metrics captured.

Marium Khan is a PhD student at the Institute of Global Prosperity (IGP) at University College London (UCL), under the supervision of Dr Kate Maclean and Dr Onyaglanu Idoko. Her research involves an interdisciplinary study of women artisans in India and their marginalisation within the global fashion value chain, despite their integral role. Marium’s project will critically study the structural barriers, societal biases, and cultural imperialism that hinder the inclusion of these women within the value chain, while also examining the challenges they face in reviving endangered handicrafts. Her research will investigate the imbalanced dynamics between global fashion brands and local artisan communities, and the precarious position of these artisans within the landscape. She aims to explore the cross-cultural connectivity between developing nations and the global fashion ecosystem, with a goal to enhancing the visibility and socio-economic prosperity of Indian women artisans. Through strategies for cross-cultural collaboration and participatory documentation, Marium seeks to give voice to these often invisible experiences, advocating for the recognition of their contributions and the preservation of their cultural identities.

With over six years of industry experience in the UK, Marium has worked with renowned fashion and lifestyle brands, editorial publications, and start-ups, along with Indian artisans on creative projects. This diverse professional background equips her to bridge the gap between industry practices and academic inquiry in her PhD research at UCL. Marium holds an MBA in International Business (2015) from the Faculty of Management Studies and Research (FMSR) at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India. She also completed a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Geography (2012) from AMU, India. In addition, Marium has obtained a diploma in Fashion (2019) from a British Council-accredited institution in London.