I am Associate Professor of Globalization and Development and also the lead of the Globalization, Transnationalism and Development research programme at FASoS. I am a geographer and political economist with an interest in understanding the relationship between the state and the economy, with a specific focus on state-controlled investment funds known conventionally as sovereign wealth funds.

I am the principal investigator of the SWFsEUROPE project funded by a generous grant from the European Research Council. This project is focused on explaining how sovereign wealth funds are made legitimate as state actors in global and European financial markets, and how these funds are being used to legitimize and facilitate state intervention in economic development in countries across the income spectrum. At FASoS I am also involved in teaching on the MA in Globalisation and Development Studies and BA in Global Studies.

Before coming to Maastricht, I was at the University of Bristol for 8 and half years, where I was Reader (Associate Professor) in Economic Geography since 2014. I completed my doctoral training at the University of Oxford, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees at, respectively, Sciences Po Paris and The George Washington University, in Washington, DC.