Behind the research: Marta Schoch

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Marta worked for the programme between December 2018 and August 2019, during the final year of her doctoral studies in Economics at the University of Sussex. She then submitted her PhD thesis in September 2019 and is currently waiting for her thesis defence to be held in November 2019.

Before joining the programme, I was very interested in studying inequality, but it was really this experience that trained me to study issues like poverty and inequality in low-income countries. This research interest motivated one of the chapters of my thesis and my collaboration with the programme’s Ethiopia team on several research projects. 

During my participation in the programme, I studied the relationship between migration and household welfare in rural Ethiopia. I was interested in the relationship between migration and household expenditure in food and non-food items, remittances and improvements in household’s own perception of economic conditions. 

Working with Julie Litchfield and the Ethiopia team trained me to work with rich data on household consumption and indicators of household economic welfare. Working on this project, however, also allowed me to learn about land regulations, migration policy and a variety of topics specific to the context of Ethiopia. Collaborating with Migrating out of Poverty was crucial for me to gain this expertise. 

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Marta!

Behind the research: Emmanuel Quarshie

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium. 

Emmanuel was Communications and Research Uptake Officer at the Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana from 2014 to 2019 during which time he completed a Master of Philosophy in Economics at the University of Ghana. He is now studying for a PhD in Economics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

“Migrating out of Poverty has made me develop a keen interest in migration research. That led me to write my master’s thesis on remittances. Consequently, I went ahead to take up a PhD in Economics with my research focus on Migration, climate change and wellbeing.

From my time working on Migrating out of Poverty I am most proud of the opportunity I had to sit and dialogue with partners from other backgrounds in different countries without any form of discrimination and supremacy exerted. This meant a lot to me”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Emmanuel!

Behind the research: Eva-Maria Egger

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium. 

Eva was a doctoral student at Sussex who worked on the quantitative data, and income and remittances research themes for Migrating out of Poverty during the period 2013 to 2017.

She went on to be a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the International Fund for Agricultural Development and, starting September 2019, will take up a new position as a research fellow for UNU-WIDER.

“Migrating out of Poverty shaped my profile as researcher and helped me to find my post-doctoral research position. The exposure to other disciplines and researchers from developing countries provided me with a valuable experience outside of the normal doctoral studies. The topics of migration and poverty continue to be relevant and in high demand. My work with Migrating out of Poverty proved rewarding not only during my doctoral studies, but also for my career after that.

I am most proud of the quantitative panel data in Ghana. Together with the team of CMS in Ghana, we managed to combine the first and second rounds of quantitative data. I then used this data for one of my PhD chapters and it got published in the IZA Journal of Development and Migration with Julie Litchfield as co-author.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Eva-Maria!