Biography

For the past eight years I worked at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi), an independent think tank based in Berlin. From 2011-2014, I served as GPPi’s associate director heading the programs on humanitarian action and innovation in development. I conducted field research in Haiti, DRC, CAR, Uganda and Turkey. At Cambridge, I will focus on state power and the politics of offshore finance. Offshore financial centres, or tax havens, are at the core of social inequality within and across countries. They help the wealthy elite to avoid taxes, shifting the burden of paying for public goods to lower income classes. Global tax evasion can only be addressed if countries collaborate internationally because of the near-complete integration of financial markets into one single global market. Studying the regulation of tax havens, I hope to make a contribution to more tax justice and a more stable financial system.