Permanent Researchers & Visiting Fellows

Marion Allet is currently untertaking a PhD in Economics and Management under joint supervision between the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB) and at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (IEDES-UMR 201).

She holds a Master degree in International Relations and Development Economics (IEP Paris 2006) and a Complementary Master in Microfinance (EMP 2009). She has several years of work experience in the area of international cooperation (Honduras, Papua New Guinea) and in microfinance.

Her research project focuses on “green microfinance” and seeks to assess to what extent it is relevant for microfinance to aim at an environmental bottom line.

Email: Marion.Allet@ulb.ac.be

Katarzyna Cieślik is currently undertaking a PhD in Management at CERMI under the joint supervision of professors Marek Hudon and Philip Verwimp. Her project focuses on issues pertaining to "social entrepreneurship and microfinance". She benefits from a fellowship from the Marie & Alain Philippson Foundation.

Her previous career has focused on translating academic research into policy-making in Latin America and the Middle East. Based on five months of fieldwork in Barranquilla, Colombia, her MSc in International Development (Unviersity of Amsterdam) investigated the inner congruity patterns of the employees and clients of a local MFI.

Katarzyna also holds a Masters Degree in Psychology from the University of Warsaw. Her dissertation was based on an experimental research on gender differences in the context of educational institutions. Following this line of research, she completed an internship at ATGENDER, a European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documention where she focused on promoting contact between academic research on gender and NGOs working in this area in the Netherlands and in Hungary.

Email: katarzynacieslik@gmail.com

Carolina Laureti is currently undertaking a PhD within the framework of ARC research fellowship "Microfinance: Governance and Social Responsibility", at the Warocqué School of Business and Economics (University of Mons - UMONS).

She holds a Master in Economics (University of Rome La Sapienza, 2001) and a Complementary Master in Microfinance (Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB, 2009).

She has various working experiences in the field of economics and finance. She worked in Rome for the Minstry of Economics and Finance; in Milan, for a business consultancy company; in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Angola and Iraq, for a Humanitarian Organization. Since 2008, she is mainly involved in microfinance, mixing academic research (a PhD at University of Mons, Belgium) with working experiences (RFA in Brussels, Microsave in India, IFAD in Rome).

Email: Carolina.Laureti@umons.ac.be
Tel.: +32 (0)65.37.32.79

Bertrand Moulin is currently undertaking a PhD at the Warocqué School of Business and Economics (University of Mons - UMONS).

He holds a Master’s degree in Economics (ULB) and a Complementary Master degree in Financial Risk Management from HEC-Ulg.

Bertrand has several years of experience as Fund administrator in Luxembourg where he learned the existence of Microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs). Both interests in Finance and development matters have led Bertrand to undertake his PhD.

His research aims at studying the financial impact of MIVs on Microfinance institutions (MFIs) as a credible and financially sustainable funding mean and if MIVs can contribute to the expansion and consolidation of MFIs more specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Email: Bertrand.Moulin@student.umons.ac.be

Jessica Schicks is currently undertaking a PhD at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB).

She holds a Masters level degree in Economics and Management (University of Witten/Herdecke) and earned an MPhil in Development Studies from Cambridge, UK.

Her work experience covers a broad range of topics, including microfinance work with KfW, the United Nations Capital Development Fund, and an Opportunity International MFI in Ghana. Since 2007, Jessica has worked as an international banking consultant with McKinsey & Company, focusing on commercial banking for retail and corporate customers as well as inclusive finance. Jessica is currently on an educational leave from McKinsey to do her PhD.

Continuing in line with her previous research on the double bottom line character of the inclusive finance industry, her research will focus on customer protection in microfinance.

Email: Jessica.Schicks@ulb.ac.be

Anne-Claire Siliki is currently undertaking a PhD in Economics and Management at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB).

She holds a Master in Projects Development and Management from the Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale (UCAC)and a Complementary Master in Microfinance (European Microfinance Programme - EMP).

She has several years of experience as projects analyst in Central Africa (Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon, Tchad) and in Mali. Her study focuses on drop outs in MFIs. She is also a researcher and training assistant at the SBS-EM (ULB).

Email: Anne.Claire.Siliki@ulb.ac.be

Ludovic Urgeghe is currently undertaking a PhD at the Warocqué School of Business and Economics (University of Mons - UMONS) where he is also a research and teaching assistant.

He holds a Master Degree in Business Management and also graduated from the European Microfinance Programme (EMP).

His PhD research, situated in the context of microfinance commercialization, aims at exploring the influence of emerging specialized investment vehicles on the microfinance sector, and especially on the governance of microfinance institutions.

Email: Ludovic.Urgeghe@umons.ac.be
Tel.: +32(0)65.37.32.77

Cyril Fouillet holds a PhD in Economics and Management from the Université libre de Bruxelles and is currently undertaking a post-doctorate at the University of Oxford (School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies). Wiener-Anspach Fellow, Cyril Fouillet’s research interests include the spatial dimensions of financial inclusion in South Asia, Latin America and North Africa.

He has an interest in economic geography of monetary and financial practices and tracks the ideas and ideologies in development policies. As a research fellow at the French Institute of Pondicherry (program “Labour, Finance and Social Dynamics”), he spent three years in India conducting his fieldwork on economical, spatial and political dimensions of microfinance. He is also a research associate at the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi), Université Libre de Bruxelles and research member of the Rural Microfinance and Employment project (French National Research Agency). He previously worked for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (Rural Finance Group), and the Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life (FARM).

Email: cyril.fouillet@area.ox.ac.uk

Ephrem Niyongabo successfully defended his PhD Thesis in Economics and Management on January 12^th, 2011, at the Warocqué School of Business and Economics (University of Mons - UMONS).

He also holds a degree in advanced development studies (ULG) and is graduated in Economics (University of Bejaia, Algeria).

His doctoral research has focused on public policy and microfinance in rural and agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa. His professional experience started in the field of election planning and management as a United Nations Official in Burundi in 2005. His experience with microfinance in the field is set in Burundi where he did research on sustainability of 3 MFIs (FENACOBU, CECM, and COSPEC) and got in touch with the microfinance actors at the macro and meso levels.

Email: ephremniyongabo@yahoo.fr

Koen Rossel-Cambier successfully defended his PhD Thesis on "Combined Microfinance Systems" on November 9^th, 2011,at the Warcoqué School of Business and Economics (University of Mons - UMONS).

He is an economist with Masters degrees in respectively Applied Economics, International Trade and International Relations. He began his professional career working as an academic assistant for an MBA programme with the EHSAL School of Economics in Brussels. Consequently he worked for the Cabinet of the Belgian Development Cooperation in Belgium. Since he left Belgium in 1998 to work on long-term assignments overseas in countries such as Senegal, Italy, Morocco and Barbados he has been working with international organisations including the ILO, the World Bank and UNICEF, and is currently employed by the European Commission. Mr. Rossel-Cambier has conducted capacity building and technical support missions in more than 30 countries, especially in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. He has authored various publications and text books especially in the fields of social protection and micro-insurance.

Email: koenrc@yahoo.com

Anaïs Périlleux successfully defended her PhD Thesis in Economics and Management on January 28^th, 2011, at the Warocqué School of Business and Economics (University of Mons - UMONS).

She holds a Master Degree in Economics (Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB), and also graduated from the European Microfinance Programme (EMP).

As partial fulfilment for the completion of her academic studies Ms Perilleux worked with a cooperative of cotton producers in South Mali and with a microfinance institution in Calcutta. Other professional engagements included the study of a network of cooperatives in Senegal on behalf of the Belgian NGO, SOS Faim, and the Senegalese farmers movement “FONGS”) and a mission in Kinshasa.

Email: anais.perilleux@umons.ac.be

Ritha Sukadi Mata successfully defended her PhD Thesis in Management Sciences on April 30^th, 2012, at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB).

She had undertaken a PhD on "Microfinance and Remittances" and she has occupied a position as training assistant at the SBS-EM.

She also holds a Master in business management from the University of Mons (UMONS) and she also graduated from the European Microfinance Programme (EMP).

Ms. Sukadi has had extensive experience with microfinance in the field; in Equator, Burkina Faso, Nepal and Democratic Republic of Congo.  She has worked for two microfinance NGOs in Luxembourg and Brussels.

Email: rsukadim@ulb.ac.be
Tel.: +32(0)2.650.48.72

Annabel Vanroose has successfully defended her PhD Thesis on February 25^th, 2011, at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

She also holds a Degree in Advanced Business Management (Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB) and is also a graduate of the European Microfinance Programme (EMP). She has pursued her doctoral studies in microfinance, under joint supervision by ULB and VUB, focusing on the unequal development of microfinance in developing countries. Annabel has field experience from both Latin America and India.

Annabel is currently working as a professor at the Universidad de Piura (UDEP) in Piura - Peru, teaching a course on Impact Evaluation of Development Programs, with a focus on microfinance, and pursuing further research in this area.

Email: avroose@vub.ac.be

Isabelle Agier holds a PhD in Economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Brazil. She also graduated from the ENSAE and the Paris School of Economics (France). She has spent 5 years in Rio de Janeiro, including 4 years devoted to writing her thesis on the role of credit officers and the control for discrimination against women in loan allocation. Over that period of time, she cooperated with Vivacred, a NGO specialized in providing microcredit in Rio's favelas that recently joined the national Brazilian Programme "CrediAmigo". Her research focuses on the dynamics of intra-household financial decision-making in India, in cooperation with Paris 1 University, the IRD (France), and CERMi.

Simon Cornée holds a PHD in Management Science (Finance) from the University of Rennes 1 (France). He is currently a teaching and research assistant in finance at the IGR-University of Rennes 1. His research topics encompass financial intermediation, microfinance and social banking in Northern countries. A particular attention is paid to credit-granting decision processes, organisational aspects and risk management with the aid of experimental and quantitative empirical tools.

He worked for three years in a French social bank (Société Financière Coopérative de la Nef). He also has a field experience in a Bolivian association of MFIs (FINRURAL). He was awarded the 2006 "Finance and Sustainable" prize delivered by the FIR-EUROSIF.

Simon Cornée is a visiting researcher at CERMi in Mons from March to April 2011.

Emmanuelle is a lecturer at the York Management School (University of York, UK). She did her PhD on gender and micro-finance in the European Union and holds a master in research methods in contemporary sociology (University of York).

Emmanuelle's research qualitatively analyses the effects of micro-finance by looking at the working conditions and the quality of life of women who entered self-employment after having acquired a micro-credit. Her research also analyses the co-existence of different discourses on micro-finance: policy makers, practitioners, and micro-borrowers.

Emmanuelle Desmedt is a visiting researcher at CERMi in Brussels from February to May 2011.

Knar Khachatryan is currently enrolled in International PhD in Management Science programme at SKEMA Business School (Sophia-Antipolis, France) and Ecole doctorale DESPEG – Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis (France). Her research interests are mainly related to innovations in microlending contracts, dynamic incentive mechanisms with particular focus on microsavings as well as ownership structures of Microfinance Institutions in Eastern Europe.

As accomplishment of her Master thesis entitled “Patterns of Internationalization of Microfinance Industry and its Further Implementation in Armenia” she has carried out qualitative research with MFIs operating in Armenia.

She holds a Bachelors degree in Management science from University Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 (France) and a MSc in International Business from SKEMA Business School.

Knar Khachatryan is a visiting researcher at CERMi in Mons in February 2011.

Serges P Messomo studied Management at the University of Buea, Cameroon. The theme of his thesis was the "Profil des micro entrepreneurs bénéficiaires du microcrédit entreprises des établissements de microfinance au Cameroun". His current research focuses on Microfinance in municipal management; financing of enterprises; innovation in micro enterprises and enterprise risk management; capital forms and micro enterprise. Serges was a visiting fellow in November and December 2008.

Serges P. Messomo was a visiting researcher at CERMi in Mons in November 2008

Dr Ahmad Nawaz currently works as a Research Economist at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics in Islamabad. In the past he has taught at the Government College University (in Lahore) and also worked as a planning officer in the Govt. of Punjab. His research interests are primarily related to the public policy and ethical issues in microfinance with particular focus on the sustainability issues. He has also carried out research and consultancy sponsored by the UNDP, JICA and GDN. He holds a Bachelors degree from the Government College Lahore, a Masters from the University of Manchester and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Goettingen in Germany.

Dr Ahmad Nawaz was a visiting researcher at CERMi in Brussels in July and August 2010.

Email: Ahmad.Nawaz@wiwi.uni-goettingen.de
Web Page: www.pide.org.pk

Dr. Joakim Sandberg holds a Ph.D. in Practical Philosophy from the University of Gothenburg(Sweden) and is currently research fellow at the same university. He is also honorary research fellow in Global Ethics / Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, and associate researcher at CERMi (Belgium).

Joakim’s main academic interests are moral philosophy and applied ethics, especially business ethics. He is currently involved in two major international research programmes: He is a co-organiser of the AHRC Research Network on Microfinance, a research network which discusses ethical issues concerning microloans to the poor, and he is member of Sustainable Investments, a research programme which concerns to what extent pension funds can and should acknowledge environmental standards in their investments. Joakim has published articles in journals such as Business Ethics: A European Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Quarterly, and has contributed to books such as The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, and Ethics: A University Reader.

Dr. Joakim Sandberg is a visiting researcher at CERMi in Brussels in January 2011

E-Mail: joakim.sandberg@filosofi.gu.se

Links Joakim Sandberg on the University of Gothenburg's website