Global development conference highlights research by postdocs

The factors that influence adoption of new health technologies. How political opposition parties, candidates, and supporters seek to challenge and are challenged by autocratic governments.  The impact of aid on bureaucracies in developing countries. Urban ecology in the Amazon. These are just a few of the research topics being explored by postdoctoral and predoctoral scholars at the Stanford King Center on Global Development and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL).

Eight fellows—four from each center—presented their work at the centers’ Global Development Postdoctoral Fellows Conference on Sept. 19.

“At the start of the new academic year, this event is a great way for postdocs new to Stanford to engage with each other and connect with the broader community here,” says Katherine Casey, faculty director of the King Center on Global Development and the RoAnn Costin Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “We are thrilled to again join forces with CDDRL in spotlighting these researchers’ incredible work.”

For Carlos Paramo, a King Center postdoctoral fellow whose work studies the role of medical providers in the adoption of a new contraceptive technology in Kenya, the conference was a chance to meet other scholars from both centers, learn about their research, and receive feedback on his own.

Paramo presented on the randomized controlled trial he conducted in Kenyan pharmacies, where pharmacists play an active role in patients’ medical decisions. He examined the role pharmacists’ advice, patients’ preferences, and financial incentives played in patients’ decisions about whether to use a new subcutaneous injectable syringe that has a lower dose and fewer side effects than the incumbent intramuscular syringe (he found that the pharmacists’ advice is the key mechanism behind adoption of the new technology, even more important than offering a reduced price to consumers).

“I found it incredibly helpful to present my work to a multidisciplinary audience,” Paramo said. “The feedback I received from scholars with different academic backgrounds has provided me with fresh perspectives that will certainly help strengthen my research as I move forward.”

Another King Center postdoctoral fellow, Shelby Carvalho, said the conference was “a great way to learn about the exciting work” her peers are doing. Carvalho’s research compares the often restrictive formal, or de jure, immigration policies of countries in Africa with the sometimes more accommodating everyday, or de facto, practices—what she calls “quiet inclusion.” 

“It was great to have so many faculty members, graduate students, and predocs there from a range of disciplines,” she said. “It really highlights the breadth of interesting work happening at Stanford related to development. I spoke with multiple people who have common research interests in global health, refugee issues, or political economy in Africa. It's made me excited to connect further on these shared interests and to look for opportunities to collaborate.”

Other presenters at the conference were:

• Ananya Bhattacharjee, King Center postdoctoral fellow, who explores how artificial intelligence can help improve people’s psychosocial wellbeing;
• Oren Samet, CDDRL postdoctoral fellow, who is studying opposition diplomacy—efforts by opposition parties to enlist the support of other countries for their priorities;
• Hanna Folsz, CDDRL predoctoral fellow, who is studying economic retaliation by Hungary’s authoritarian government against the political opposition;
• Ana Paula Pellegrino, CDDRL postdoctoral fellow, who is analyzing police-led armed groups in Brazil;
• Maria Josephine Nagawa, CDDRL postdoctoral fellow, whose work examines how foreign aid affects the work and priorities of bureaucrats in developing countries; and
• Valeria Ramírez Castañeda, King Center postdoctoral fellow, whose work explores the intersection of urbanization, sustainability, and disease ecology in Amazonian cities.

More than 80 people attended the event, which is Stanford’s only conference for postdoctoral fellows in global development. Being in the same space with like-minded scholars from different disciplines was powerful, Paramo says.

“The most meaningful aspect of the experience was connecting with other scholars in global development on campus and learning about their research projects,” he says. “Building that sense of community was incredibly valuable.”

Carvalho agreed.

“I came away from the conference feeling like Stanford is a place that encourages cross-disciplinary engagement on big questions and that was really exciting to see,” she said.